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Authority record
GB 1534 IC1 · Corporate body · 1981-2011

The 1981 Investment Club (1981-2011) was formed for the purpose of creating a group of women who, through shared knowledge and experience, would be able to learn how to invest their finances with minimal risk. Club membership was open to women who resided in the West of Scotland, and was restricted to 20 women at a time, all of whom would be involved in the management of the club. Shared holidays and annual meals also became tradition. In 2010, the current members near-unanimously agreed to end the club, deciding that the May 2011 AGM would mark its conclusion, and compiled these records for the GWL to ensure their past efforts would be remembered.

ARM 1 · Corporate body · 1976 - present

The Association of Radical Midwives (A.R.M) is a charity dedicated to improving maternity services both in the UK and internationally. It hosts regular meetings at a local and national level, campaigns regularly to protect women’s rights and support midwifery, and produces a quarterly magazine to provide news and updates. It was found in 1976 by a group of student midwives who were concerned with the way maternity nurses were treated during their training. The acronym is a pun on the term ‘Artificial Rupture of Membranes’, or artificially induced labour, which was routinely overused at the time. It is the hope of A.R.M. that they can restore midwifery to a position where midwives’ skills are used in full, alongside the benefits of modern technological advances to give woman and child the best possible chance.

GB 1534 ATS1 · Corporate body · 1938 - 1949

Created in 1938, the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was created in response the growing threat of a second world war. It recruited women to fill in as cooks, clerks, orderlies, storekeepers and drivers, thereby allowing more male soldiers to be sent to the front line. The women in the ATS were given full military status by 1941, and though they were still not given combat roles, it further meant conscription expanded to include women, all of whom were drafted to the ATS unless a nurse. They were never permitted to engage in combat, but their jobs and responsibilities continued to broaden, and by 1943, over fifty thousand women served in anti-aircraft units. Black women were also allowed to enlist in. Eventually, in 1949, the ATS was absorbed into the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC).

Black Womantalk Press
Corporate body · 1983-c.1990s

Black Womantalk was a publishing co-operative set up by a group of unemployed women of African and Asian descent, who - in their own words - 'felt strongly about creating the space and the means for our voices to be heard'. Black Womantalk primarily focused on organising events and readings led by Black women writers and women writers of colour, as well as publishing several poetry collections.

Members of the co-operative included Gabriela Pearse, Bernadine Evaristo, Olivette Cole Wilson, Da Choong, Sylvia Parker, and others.

GB 1534 CLCBLG · Corporate body · 1982-1996

The Camden Lesbian Centre Project (CLCP) was founded in 1982, when several women from a loose social collective known as Kentish Town Lesbian Group (based at the nearby Kentish Town Women’s Workshop) recognised the need for a space expressly for lesbians. The group - all of whom were white lesbians - successfully applied for grant funding from Camden Council Women's Committee, and they began organising regular meetings and events with a view to establishing a centre for lesbians. In 1984, the Black Lesbian Group was founded as a support group for Black lesbians and lesbians of colour, who faced the tripartite barriers of homophobia, racism, and misogyny; the group used the term 'Black' in the broader political sense.

Having worked closely together, Camden Lesbian Centre Project and the Black Lesbian Group merged to form the Camden Lesbian Centre and Black Lesbian Group (CLCBLG) in 1985. Despite their differences and the fact that CLCP had originally excluded Black lesbians from its initial stages, BLG members felt the merger presented an opportunity to improve things for their community. The merger agreement stipulated that at least 50% of CLCBLG's staff and its Management Committee would comprise Black lesbians and that around half of the Centre's events and workshops would be for Black lesbians only.

From 1985-86, CLCBLG sought out premises across Camden. Although initially unsure of how the site would work for them, the group eventually applied for a change of use for a former retail space at 54-56 Phoenix Road, which they were granted amidst vocal resistance and homophobia from some local residents. The group signed the lease in September 1986. CLCBLG worked with Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative, Support Community Building and Common Ownership Design and Construct (CODAC) to renovate and alter the Centre before opening its doors to the public on Saturday 31 October 1987. From this point onward, the Centre was a social and political hub for many strands of London's lesbian community, becoming home to workshops, socials, seminars, discussion groups and other events. It became the base of groups like the Older Lesbian Network, Zamimass Black lesbian group, and GEMMA, the friendship network for disabled and non-disabled lesbians.

With successive and ever more severe cuts to grant funding from Camden Council, CLCBLG was forced to scale down its paid staff members and operations from c.1990 onwards. The Centre eventually wrapped up its operations in 1996, when the group was informed that they'd receive no grant funding in that year's budget.

GB 1534 CWO1 · Corporate body · 1993-

Catholic Women’s Ordination (CWO) began in 1993 as a national group of women and men demanding that women be equal with men in the church community, not only in the vocational sense, but in the ministerial priesthood. They aim to achieve a forum for examining, challenging and developing the present understanding of priesthood, with the desire to achieve ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church a secondary, though equally important, goal. By 2000 there were CWO groups throughout Britain and a membership of 500 people. Campaign activities include support networks, newsletters, conferences, advertising, participation in ecumenical activities, and monthly vigils in London and Edinburgh. It is run and organised on a volunteer basis, with members of CWO contributing to their National Co-ordinating Group (NatCog) in order to maintain a cohesive message across the UK. By 2014 there were two hundred Roman Catholic Women Priests across four continents, though on ordination to the priesthood they are automatically excommunicated. CWO continues to campaign for reformation of the Roman Catholic priesthood and for women to be recognised as priests in Canon Law.

Corporate body · 1973-

The Centre for Alternative Technology is an eco-centre in Powys, Wales. They educate people on sustainable development and living, alternative technology, renewable energy, organic farming and gardening. They run postgraduate courses, residential and day courses, and publish information on the above topics.

Close the Gap, 2001-
GB 1534 CTG1 · Corporate body · 2001-

Close The Gap was launched by the Social Justice minister and the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Minister on 8 March 2001. It was launched as a campaign to raise awareness about the gender pay gap in Scotland, and has since continued to host conferences and seminars on the subject, provide training and evaluations to ensure companies are able to commit to the equality act, as well as working with trade unions in order to educate and advise their representatives. They are also a prolific source of articles pertaining to the gender pay gap. Originally a partnership initiative, it has operated as a charity since 2017.

GB 1534 EG1 · Corporate body · 1906-

Founded in 1906, the Embroiderer’s Guild is a voluntary charity that aims to collect and teach about embroidery in order to keep the practice alive in today’s declining art curriculum in schools. Originally started in London, other branches began opening across England until eventually the first Scottish Branch formed in Edinburgh (1953), and in 1956 the first Glasgow branch was opened. In addition to offering courses on embroidery, the Guild also has regular meetings for members to attend, as well as giving lectures and creating exhibitions. They also curate a collection of embroidery, consisting of pieces both historical and contemporary from the 16th century onwards, which is currently held at the Bucks County Museum Resource Centre. The Glasgow and District Branch had a 50th anniversary celebration exhibition in 2006, and a 60th anniversary exhibition in 2016.

GB 1534 EN1 · Corporate body · 1990-

Engender is Scotland’s feminist membership organisation, a charity working in Scotland and other parts of Europe for equality and women’s rights. Based in Edinburgh, their goals include increased public awareness of sexism and its detrimental effects, equal representation of women in government, and training women activists at a local level. The organisation launched in the early 1990s as a research and campaigning organisation. They involve themselves in all aspects of society, including care, education, employment, health, media, arts, sport, politics, public spaces, social security, abuse and women’s rights. They also run conferences and events, host women’s writing on their blog, and host a podcast: ‘On the Engender.’