‘Everything that makes up a woman’s life’: Feminism and femininity in houseparty

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which an unassuming regional afternoon television programme for women, Houseparty (1972-81) overlapped with the feminist concerns of the 1970s Women’s Liberation Movement. Without any overt feminist agenda, this much-loved programme achieved a feminist communication through cross-over between talk television and consciousness-raising, and by addressing issues of prominent concern to women in this decade such as the role of the housewife and the working woman, motherhood and the potential of craft as a political statement. Innovative direction and the intention to offer ‘authentic’ presentations of female experience, led a mode of conversation that straddled both feminism and femininity.