ABSTRACT
At about the same time as I began school teaching, I became involved with others in setting up a Women’s Liberation group in Hull. From the beginning our group included and was in close touch with women who contradict prevailing assumptions about the absence of working class women from the formative development of second wave feminism. One of our first commitments to political action was to support the campaign of fishermen’s wives, led by Lily Bilocca, about safety at sea. We were also in close contact with the Women’s Industrial Union, established by Pat Sturdy in Burnley, with aims to democratise trade unions, make them less sexist and
to be more like a Union-cum-club [to] look after members’ rights at work and help with their problems out of work . . . to stand together . . . to stand firmly with kindness, firmly with consideration. Only this way can we hope to show the men folk the error of their ways and stay uncorrupted ourselves.
