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The Women's Library
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Sisters Doing It For Themselves

This collection includes the recordings of 16 interviews carried out to mark the 50th anniversary of Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) in 2020. For the occasion, the Women's Resource Centre (WRC) ran a project called 'Sisters Doing It For Themselves', funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to create a unique oral history archive documenting the testimonies of current and past leaders.

The Women’s Voluntary and Community Sector (WVCS) grew out of the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM). The contribution of the WVCS in advancing women’s rights is largely undocumented. Many of the women who were involved in setting up women’s organisations and campaigning for change are now in their late 50s and 60s. Their struggles and achievements have remained largely invisible.

This archive illustrates the impact that the WVCS has had on the structural position of women, through campaigning and influencing. The archive will also provide insight into the impact on the lives of the women themselves as drivers of the movement.

The following women have been interviewed:
Rosalind Bragg - Maternity Action
Lee Eggleston OBE & Sheila Coates MBE - Rape Crisis
Sarbjit Ganger - Asian Women's Resource Centre
Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith - Healing Solidarity International Feminist Collective
Carolina Gottardo - Latin American Women's Rights
Vivienne Hayes MBE - Women's Resource Centre
Joyce Kallevik - WISH
Ranjit Kaur - Activist & Campaigner
Professor Liz Kelly - Child and Woman Abuse Studies, LMU
Marai Larasi MBE
Naana Otoo-Oyortey MBE - FORWARD
Pragna Patel - Southall Black Sisters
Mary-Ann Stephenson - Women's Budget Group
Dr Akima Thomas OBE - Women and Girls Network

The portraits of interviewees that accompany the interview recordings were taken by photographer Oluwatosin Wasi Daniju.

For more information, explore the project page.

Zohl de' Ishtar interviewed by Vanessa Pini

This folder includes the recorded audio of the interview along with a transcript of the recording and a photograph of Zohl.
Irish-Australian Lesbian, Zohl de' Ishtar has worked with Indigenous Australian and Pacific women for 40 years. While at Greenham, she initiated Britainas aWomen for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacifica. Zohl arrived at Greenham on her 30th birthday in 1982 and describes Green Gate as, 'The best place in the world.' She talks about the camp being infiltrated by police officers and the media, links with other peace camps around the world, including Pine Gap in Australia and getting arrested at Heathrow airport for forming a blockade and singing Greenham songs. She also recalls 'the zap' and the effects it had. Zohl has written several books and is currently working on a new book with the working title 'Greenham's Pacific Journey'.
Zohl was interviewed by Vanessa Pini in September 2020.

Voz Faragher interviewed by Elaine Ruth White

This folder includes the recorded audio of the interview along with a transcript of the recording and a photograph of Voz.
Being an activist means becoming troublesome, defying authority and facing both the fears and consequences of taking action. Listen to Voz Faragher relate her experiences of staring the police in the face; hear her describe how it felt to be manhandled, to face the courts and spend the night in jail. But more than that, listen to her tell just how the support and energy of women united strengthened her courage and inspired her to become a lifelong advocate for the vulnerable and oppressed.
Voz was interviewed by Elaine Ruth White in 2019.
She was photographed by Christine Bradshaw (copyright Christine Bradshaw).

Wendy Moorhouse Johns interviewed by Kitty Gurnos Davies

This folder includes the recorded audio of the interview along with a transcript of the recording.
Wendy Moorhouse Johns was based in Leamington Spa during the height of the peace movement. She organised a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) group through Spare Rib magazine and they visited Greenham Common together.
In her interview, she touches on class relations to protest and the different challenges faced by women from different socio-economic backgrounds.
Wendy has a passion and talent for music and she discusses the relationship between folk music and the peace movement, including her project undertaken as part of a degree at the Ruskin School of Art. She tells us about meeting Peggy Seeger in Oxford and singing together on stage.
Wendy talks widely about women's history, family, and experiences in relation to protest and activism.
Wendy was interviewed by Kitty Gurnos Davies in 2019.

Vicki Smith interviewed by Josephine Liptrott

This folder includes the recorded audio of the interview along with a transcript of the recording and a photograph of Vicki.
Vicki first heard about Greenham when studying at Southampton University. She was fascinated by the idea that it was a women-only space and protest.
She initially went as a weekend visitor and later lived there full-time at Blue Gate, staying for about two years.
She broke into the air base three times, on one occasion getting onto the silos and on another running between the shelves of the on-site commissary. Cutting a huge hole in the fence and driving her car onto the runway resulted in a criminal damage conviction.
Vicky was a founder member of Cruisewatch, a group which aimed to monitor and disrupt military manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. She remembers hostility from the local residents, regular evictions and too many lentils, but also describes a genuinely inclusive and nurturing women-only space where everyone was valued and heard.
Vicki was interviewed by Josephine Liptrott in London in 2019.
She was photographed by Christine Bradshaw (copyright Christine Bradshaw).

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