In January 1988, women took to the streets to protest against the Alton Bill – one MP’s attempt to ban late abortions
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As star after star walked the red carpet dressed in black at the usually colourful Golden Globes this January, the Time’s Up campaign extended its reach far beyond the entrance to the Beverly Hilton hotel. Actors from Meryl Streep to Emma Watson swept aside the usual questions about their sartorial choices, instead deferring to the female activists they had chosen to take as their guests to discuss matters of sexual harassment and gender inequality in the workplace. The campaign had been launched by a coalition of female Hollywood actors, agents, writers, directors, producers and entertainment executives in the wake of the tidal wave of sexual assault allegations against film mogul Harvey Weinstein. And it was at this glittering awards ceremony that the whole world became aware of this new front in the fight for equality.
But such battles have not always been so civilised, nor so glamorous. The activists of the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) of the 1960s-80s discovered that they would need to employ shock tactics in their fight, which largely focused on gaining equality in the workplace, in the family and for rights over their own bodies.