40 years ago, the women’s liberation movement was thriving on this here island. Oxford saw the first key moment of second-wave feminism (‘first-wave’ refers to early 20th Century campaigners, like the suffragists), in a February conference based in a progressive adult-education college, Ruskin.
The conference formulated four demands of women’s lib: equal pay, equal opportunities, free contraception and abortion on demand, and free 24-hour childcare. The demands have had various degrees of success. Whilst it’s illegal to be paid differently because of your sex, in reality, women still take home less. And condoms might be free from GUM clinics, but pro-lifers and pro-choicers still fight it out for legal and moral prominence.

Last weekend, hundreds of feminists came together to explore the last four decades – work out what’s gone right, and what we really need to work on. There were creative workshops, academic panels, and great speakers like Beatrix Campbell. This wasn’t a conference for newbies. There was a nostalgic buzz in the air, and some keynote speakers, whilst brilliant, didn’t exactly speak in the language of the streets, but in the tongue of talented intellectuals.

One workshop showed participants what it was like to be part of a consciousness-raising group. Throughout the 60s and 70s, groups of women came together to share their concerns. Many discovered that the intimate relationship issues they had were actually shared by other women, and related to wider trends in society - the personal is political.

I came away wondering if women’s oppression is still a problem today. I’m not sure that my life has constrained by being born a girl – but I reckon I’m one of the lucky ones.

Unlucky would be those girls who’ve gone through female genital mutilation. In a workshop on gender-based violence, expert Tobe Levin told us that there are around 140 million women living in the world today, whose clitoris, or entire labia, has been removed.

Levin and others are campaigning to end FGM by advocating alternative initiation rites. They are pushing to maintain traditional initiation ceremonies for girls, just without the mutilation. There is a long way to go. In Sierra Leone recently, FGM was used as a political tool. The President’s wife paid for the cutting of 1500 girls to gain votes for her husband. And in the UK, the practice is being noticed more. In response, the government has produced a fact sheet.

Overall, this weekend’s conference wasn’t an event filled with the utopian optimism and anger of its predecessor - but it was definitely worth a visit. I also felt a little like I should pay these women a visit to say thanks. If I don’t feel limited by the fact I’m a woman, that’s partly down to them, and I’m grateful.

If you’re feeling like you’ve missed out on a provocative couple of days, you’d be right. The best place to rectify this would be at the Feminism in London activist event in October. I’ll be there with knobs on.

Words: Hannah Brock

Photo: Flickr user sholgk