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Snapshots: women in the archives

Women have always played leading roles in the humanist movement, though history hasn't always remembered them. A collection of photographs in the British Humanist Association archive at the Bishopsgate Institute depicts various events during the 1970s and '80s, and offers a rare glimpse of some of these women, whose wider work spanned education, humanist ceremonies, anti-apartheid activism, and much more.

1971

Women’s Liberation at the Annual Conference

Women’s Liberation was theme of the 1971 annual conference of the British Humanist Association.

This photo from the conference shows a panel of humanists discussing the theme. Pictured are Clive Jones, Barbara Smoker, Pat Knight, Diane Munday, Barbara Pilbeam, Jo Beaton, Vera Lustig. According to a report in Humanist News:

The panel spoke in favour of the abolition of marriage and also, for good measure, for the integration of public lavatories—a viewpoint which earned in Monday’s Guardian the headline “Lib in the loos and kitchens”.
Motions passed at the 1971 AGM of the British Humanist Association
An emphasis on equality and the rights of women had drawn many to the humanist movement, including at the BHA’s founding 75 years earlier as the Union of Ethical Societies.

The remarkable women at the heart of organised humanism during the 1970s and 1980s had their forerunners in figures like Zona Vallance (1860-1904), May Seaton-Tiedeman (1862-1948), and Ernestine Mills (1871-1959) – all of whom had fought for women’s social and legal equality.

1971

Women’s Liberation at the Annual Conference

Women’s Liberation was theme of the 1971 annual conference of the British Humanist Association.

This photo from the conference shows a panel of humanists discussing the theme. Pictured are Clive Jones, Barbara Smoker, Pat Knight, Diane Munday, Barbara Pilbeam, Jo Beaton, Vera Lustig. According to a report in Humanist News:

The panel spoke in favour of the abolition of marriage and also, for good measure, for the integration of public lavatories—a viewpoint which earned in Monday’s Guardian the headline “Lib in the loos and kitchens”.
Motions passed at the 1971 AGM of the British Humanist Association
An emphasis on equality and the rights of women had drawn many to the humanist movement, including at the BHA’s founding 75 years earlier as the Union of Ethical Societies.

The remarkable women at the heart of organised humanism during the 1970s and 1980s had their forerunners in figures like Zona Vallance (1860-1904), May Seaton-Tiedeman (1862-1948), and Ernestine Mills (1871-1959) – all of whom had fought for women’s social and legal equality.

For these women, humanist ideals underpinned their commitments to community, compassion, and change-making.

As their predecessors had campaigned for women’s suffrage, reform of the divorce laws, and the replacement of religious instruction with moral education, the humanist women of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s were instrumental in efforts to achieve reproductive rights, challenge discrimination, and secure fairer housing, ceremonies, and educational opportunities.

Brigid Brophy was an activist, author, and member of the Advisory Council of the British Humanist Association (now Humanists UK).
With others, including fellow humanist Maureen Duffy, she successfully campaigned to achieve the Public Lending Right: ensuring authors are paid when their works are borrowed from libraries.
Rose Bush and Mora Burnet were two of the leading lights of the Humanist Housing Association, putting humanist values into action in providing accommodation for the elderly and disabled.
Mora Burnet spent her career as a teacher, including as head of the John Keats school for children with special educational needs in Swiss Cottage.
Jane Wynne Willson played a central role in shaping the provision of humanist ceremonies, writing guides on non-religious namings, weddings, and funerals, as well as a book about humanist parenting.
She has served as chair of Humanists International and as a director of the Rationalist Press Association, and is a patron of Humanists UK.
Patricia Knight was active in the Women’s Liberation and humanist movements.
Evidence of her activities can be found throughout the archives, including a booklet she wrote for the British Humanist Association titled ‘The case against Church Schools’, and a talk she gave at Conway Hall on the ‘Origins of Feminism and Birth Control, 1850-1914’.
Some photos in the archive, like this one, don’t identify their subjects — a reminder of the many unnamed or unknown women who have worked for humanist organisations, or simply lived humanist lives.

In 1963, humanist journal News and Notes ran a competition asking readers to write 100 words on ‘What humanism means to me’. Two of the three winning entries were identifiably by women: Barbara Pilbeam (pictured on the Women’s Liberation panel above), and Grace Attewell. The third, by an L. Johnson, may also have been.

These short statements provide an insight into what humanism meant to these women, and likely spoke for many more.

This is Humanism with a capital H, and what it means to me is this: That by taking the plunge and labelling myself humanist – by joining a local humanist society – I have joined a community and found “fellowship”, made good friends among people whose minds work in a similar way to mine… Joining and working for the Humanist movement has given me confidence and many happy experiences.

Barbara Pilbeam, Macclesfield, Cheshire

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