Fifty years of fighting sex discrimination: undermining entrenched misogynies through recognition and everyday resistance

Gilmore, S.; Harding, N.; Ford, J.

Abstract

This paper marks the 50 th anniversary of the passing of the UK's Sex Discrimination Act (1975). The UK offers an important historical case study of how such laws are, or are not, translated into practice. The success of the Act is mixed: there has been progress but much more needs to be done. In this study we seek understanding of the mechanisms through which changes, albeit limited, have been made, with the aim of identifying strategies for continuing progress towards equalities. Using a feminist methodology of researching differently within an archive of memories, and the under-utilized work of feminist psychoanalytical theorist Jessica Benjamin, we identify that women engaged in micro-revolutions involving everyday strategies of resistance. Over time these accumulate and bring about changes on which we can continue to build. The paper, firstly, contributes a theory of women's agency as quiet revolutionaries, secondly it pushes forward feminist theories of recognition, and finally it advances methods of researching differently.

Citation

Gilmore, S., Harding, N., & Ford, J. (online). Fifty years of fighting sex discrimination: undermining entrenched misogynies through recognition and everyday resistance. Human Relations, https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267241279216

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 31, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Sep 25, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 10, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 2, 2024
• Journal: Human Relations
• Print ISSN: 0018-7267
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-282X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267241279216
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2853064