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East Leeds Women's Workshop

Archive Collection: FAN/ELWW

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: East Leeds Women's Workshop

Level: Collection

Classmark: FAN/ELWW

Creator(s): East Leeds Women's Workshop()

Date(s): 08/07/1981 - 03/03/1999

Size and medium: Two boxes

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/477004

Collection group(s): Feminist Archive North

Description

The collection spans the full life of the society and contains extremely varied material. The collection includes a wide range of administrative material including society rules, a minute book, applications for child-care permits, financial costs, annual reports etc. all of which offer information on the day to day running of the workshop. In addition the collection also contains material of a more personal nature such as photographs of the women who ran and were enrolled on the courses, press cuttings conveying the stuggles and successes of the ELWW and a large banner which was on display in the workshop.

Biography or history

The East Leeds Women's Workshop was established in 1981 with the specific aim of providing free vocational training for women in jobs which women were typically under-represented. The project was a direct response to the closure of Burtons Tailoring Firm in the late 1970's which had a detrimental effect on employment (especially of women) in the Harehills area of Leeds. By December 1984 the ELWW had run four series of courses in Electronics and Micro-Computing and Carpentry and Joinery. The Society gave priority to local (East Leeds LS7,8,9,14 and 15) one-parent families, Black and Asian women, women with no further education, diasbled women and Lesbians aged over twenty-five. Its specific aim was to provide these women with the skills required to take up employment in the areas specified above. In order for the women enrolled on their courses to study effectively the ELWW established a compehensive child care system. The courses ran for eighteen years until the workshop was forced to
close due to lack of adequate funding. Donated by Sandra McNeill.

System of arrangement

The collection did not appear to have been placed in any specific order so one was imposed by the archivist.

Access and usage

Access

This material is open for consultation but we require at least 5 working days notice to retrieve from this collection.

Collection hierarchy

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