Learning about the past empowers the present

AT the Women’s Activism in Portsmouth Group meeting there will be a screening of a selection of brief film clips from the BBC archives on women’s lives in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s.

After the screening, a discussion will follow on the topic of women in Portsmouth from 1960.

The meeting will also discuss progress with the Heritage Lottery Fund bid, The Hidden Heritage of a Naval Town, Women’s Activism in Portsmouth From the 1960.

This is a history project that covers topics such as challenging sexism in the home, at school and at work.

The project also aims to examine attempts to prevent domestic and sexual violence in the city.

Dr Sue Bruley, organiser of the meeting, is a Reader in Modern History at the University of Portsmouth. Her numerous publications have made her a leading social historian of twentieth century Britain.

Sue is particularly interested in the history of working-class women. Her current research concerns the women’s Liberation Movement in Britain from 1968 to the 1980s and in particular its impact on personal life.

Sue has extensive experience of oral history and has conducted hundreds of interviews across many different projects, as well as teaching oral history.

Sue also teaches Gender, Sexuality and War 1922-80, and The First World War, A Social and Gender History.

Sue said: ‘I think learning about women in the past empowers them in the present.’

As this is a community project, Sue is keen to invite members of local women’s groups, particularly those from ethnic minorities.

Sue can be contacted at [email protected].

n The Women’s Activism in Portsmouth Group at the University of Portsmouth invites the public to their next meeting on Wednesday, May 31 at Park Building, near the Guildhall, 6pm until 7.30pm in room 2.16.