This blog was written when I was a volunteer with the Scottish Women’s Aid archive at Glasgow Women’s Library, working on the Speaking Out project.
I’ve been going back to the ‘80s in the last few weeks. Looking through late 1980s issues of the Scottish Woman’s Aid newsletter reminds me that people used to campaign for their causes without the internet – something that seems quite hard to comprehend now.
There is a lot about the newsletters that reminds me of a social media group or website. Each edition has news, updates from campaigns and useful information. They share stories from around the world and articles from other magazines and newspapers by reprinting them. And they showcase poems, pictures and personal stories from readers.
There are ‘comments’ too. For example, the editors’ sarcastic notes on misogynist cartoons and remarks from court judgments. In other cases an article in the next issue responds to a discussion or story from the previous magazine.
Just glancing through them gives you a sense of the difficult and resistant atmosphere in which those women had to fight their battles. It’s also amazing to consider how some things have changed.
Read the rest of this blog on the Glasgow Women’s Library blog.
Lucy Janes 