by Chandan
I was 20 years old when I attended the UK’s first Women’s Liberation Conference at Oxford in February-March 1970. This was a landmark event in the genesis of what is termed “Second wave feminism” in Britain. 600 women and a few men – a much greater attendance than expected – crowded into Ruskin College at Oxford for three days of debate and discussion. For many of those who attended, it was an exhilarating, indeed a life-changing, moment. I brought my camera to the conference. I was the only photographer allowed in to the plenary sessions of first Women’s Liberation Conference. It was so exciting. All the photographs I took at that time were as a participant rather than an observer. I was a supporter first and a photographer second.
I spent 6 months in Caracas, Venezuela, as my father was posted there. That’s when I started taking photographs – I’ve got lots of pictures of the barrios in Caracas. In 1967, when I was 17, I returned from there to London to study photography at the London College of Printing. I lived for three years in London with Mica and Pepe Nav, who I had met in Spain the summer before. And they, if you like, radicalised me.
The women’s groups in Peckham Rye and in Tufnell Park were the first in London. We called ourselves a consciousness raising group. The whole idea was that people shared about their lives and it was a safe place to talk. And that there was no leader. The no leadership thing was very important, and that everybody could get the space to talk and not be interrupted and not be dominated by anybody.
In the Tufnell Park group they were all about ten years older than me. I was fine with them. They are all people I have a deep respect for and who I’ve kept in touch with ever since. Lovely people. And very much into listening and sharing and making people feel OK about who they are. It was a very fantastic experience for me.
The only thing was I was gay and I hadn’t dared tell anybody yet. It was before gay liberation and I was still very shy about it.
The Oxford conference grew out of a History Workshop event the previous year where feminist historian Sheila Rowbotham’s comment on the need for a focus on women’s history drew a dismissive response from a few of the men present. Women decided to organise their own women’s history event which became this much wider conference, publicised at the time as the ‘Women’s Weekend’.
The venue was Ruskin College, an adult education college with strong links to the trade union movement. Several hundred women, and a few men, attended – many more than the organisers expected. To cope with the numbers, some of the key sessions were hastily moved to the Oxford Union debating society nearby.
Statue at Oxford Union with banana skin on his head
Sheila Rowbotham (l) and Roberta Hunter-Henderson (r)
Sue Crockford with Barnaby, talking to Juliet Mitchell
When Sally and others organised the Oxford conference, we just all went. It wasn’t any question. Every single one of us went. It was wonderful. I have been trying to remember where we stayed – I can’t remember at all.
I was actually busier taking photographs than talking, or even listening to what people were saying. The thing about taking photographs is you’re busy doing just that – which makes you an observer but it doesn’t necessarily make you observant.
Mrs Walsh from the Committee of Civil Rights for Women and Children of Broken Families, Sue Vickery chairing. Sheila Rowbotham in the front row.
There were the big meetings in the hall with speakers. And then there were meetings in smaller rooms, because it was a very important part of the women’s movement that people should meet in small groups so that everybody gets to talk. I’ve got photographs of those smaller meetings too.
Most of the men running the crèche were husbands of women in the Tufnell Park and Peckham Rye groups.
Fathers ran the creches: Dave Slaney and right, Stuart Hall
I remember thinking: poor guys! But they were all very enthusiastic and willing. They were very supportive of their women. The feeling in the whole of the conference, including the crèche, was incredibly heartfelt. Very warm.
I didn’t go to the protest at the Miss World contest a few months later – I wish I had because I would have taken photographs. I was part of the meetings where we planned the slogans. I went to the trial [of Miss World protestors] at Bow Street and photographed those protesting outside the court.
Jo O’Brien who was researching Nottingham lace workers. Arielle Aberson, a Ruskin student and key organiser of the conference, sitting next to her aunt
In 1971, the year after the Oxford conference, I gave up photography. I wanted to be part of it and not to be continuously in the observer role. And anyway the police kept grabbing my camera and the photographs that were in it, which discouraged me.
Speaker is Audrey Wise. Behind the table standing is Anna Davin, to her left is Sheli Wortis, on right is Arielle Aberson’s aunt
I was known as Sally Fraser then. I’ve been called Chandan since 1976 – but as a photographer and in this context I’m still Sally.
Reprinted from History Workshop, October 2021.
All photos are copyright Sally Fraser