The Feminist Library is a collection of feminist, particularly Women's Liberation Movement literature, with over 7,000 books, 1,500 periodical titles and archival material. We have remained autonomous since 1975, when we first open our doors to the public. The ethos of the Feminist Library is to provide a space for learning, as well as the material. We host countless feminist events at the Library throughout the year, but we also provide a space for activist, community and feminist meetings organised by non-feminist groups that cannot afford a space of their own.

The perception of Women’s Studies, and feminism by extension, is that it can be too academic, with abundance of specialist jargon, making it potentially difficult for non-academic, working class or non-English speaking women to join the movement.

First launched in January 2013, Women’s Studies Without Walls (WSWW) kicked off with a weekend event themed ‘The Personal is Political’, and a generationally, geographically and educationally diverse range of women attended the launch event series. The planned extension of the WSWW course aims for a similar outcome. With an added, specific focus on ‘Decolonising Women’s Studies’ of this year’s programme, we aim to particularly address the still persistent whiteness of the curriculum.

This introductory session will revisit the Consciousness Raising practice of the Second Wave of the feminist movement, in order to bring together a discussion on feminist issues through a ‘personal is political’ lens creating a bottom-up, all-inclusive learning environment.