Archival film night: Wages for Housework and beyond! 1970s Feminist Activism on Film in London and NY
November 21 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm GMT
Join us at Mayday Rooms for an archival film night to watch and discuss 1970s grassroots feminist activism in NYC and London!
Following up on a series of archival film nights earlier this year, this event will use the campaign for Wages for Housework in London and NYC as an entry point to learning more about grassroots feminist activism in the 1970s and its significance or questions that it raises today. We’ll be screening the 1976 documentary “All Work and No Pay” about the Wages for Housework campaign in London and a compilation of videos from the National Congress of Neighborhood Women in Brooklyn in the 1970s. Together they illustrate some of the everyday experiences and organizing of the time.
This will be followed by an open and collective discussion around the significance and strategies of these actions and histories and reflections from today’s perspective. As always, your participation, questions and thoughts are welcomed and encouraged!
ARCHIVAL FILMS:
- All Work and No Pay (London, 1976, 30min): Made in 1975 by the Power of Women Collective and Wages for Housework Campaign and broadcast in 1976 by the community access unit for the BBC, Open Door, the programme provided much needed airtime where the groups’ demand for wages for housework could be put forward. The film shows meetings and interviews with groups developing campaign strategies and individuals sharing their experiences.
- Compilation – National Congress of Neighborhood Women (NYC, 1970s, 16min): The National Congress of Neighborhood Women was founded by Jan Peterson in 1974–75 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to provide a voice for working class women within the feminist and neighborhood movements. This video features black-and-white footage filmed by Christine Noschese in the mid to late 1970s of NCNW speak-outs and programs.
Supplemented by additional archival social movement materials, the hope for these film nights is to not only foreground often overlooked activist histories of the city, but also reflect together more broadly on political organising, care and historical methods/archives/media, particularly in relation to current and ongoing struggles.