Born in Salford to a large working class family attended a girls’ grammar where, aged 15, I came across a review of the Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer in the Guardian. I was fascinated and, as I couldn’t afford the book myself persuaded the head of English to buy it for the school library. However she faced stern opposition from our Head Teacher, a stereotypical vicar’s wife, who objected to the naked female torso on the cover! We won and that book helped me to articulate my take on the sex war (as it was known then). I never burned my bra but, if it hadn’t been so cold in Salford I might have burned my vest!
I went on to university in London where I managed to fit in my political development with the more serious business of drinking! After uni I ventured into the real world and learned some hard lessons about life in psychiatric hospitals at that time. It put me off my chosen career as a social worker and so ensued a varied career which went from voluntary sector (working in a refuge) to public sector (youth and community work, education management) to private sector (setting up and running my own taxi firm) back to voluntary sector (the Pankhurst Centre, where I’ve worked for the past 10 and a half years) with the only recurring theme being a commitment to supporting women. I even managed to fit in playing football for my beloved Manchester United (Women’s team, of course!).
