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The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive

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History Workshop Journal

Swansea University Author: Sarah Crook Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1093/hwj/dbag011

Abstract

In the 1970s a female police officer went undercover in the feminist movement in Britain. Across two years, she shared plans, conversations, and ephemera with Special Branch, while uncovering nothing that threatened state security. Yet her time in the movement is important to historians; she inadver...

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Published in: History Workshop Journal
ISSN: 1363-3554 1477-4569
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70107
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last_indexed 2026-04-29T05:21:39Z
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spelling 2026-04-28T11:28:50.0906025 v2 70107 2025-08-04 The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive b35484cf604604b6d6bc6873677417d1 0000-0002-1288-1488 Sarah Crook Sarah Crook true false 2025-08-04 CACS In the 1970s a female police officer went undercover in the feminist movement in Britain. Across two years, she shared plans, conversations, and ephemera with Special Branch, while uncovering nothing that threatened state security. Yet her time in the movement is important to historians; she inadvertently created a rich archive of the feminist movement. For feminist historians, though, the use of this archive, made available by the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI, 2015–ongoing), raises issues around consent. This article considers these issues and uses the material exposed by the UCPI to explore the Women’s Liberation Movement’s perceived threat to social order. Journal Article History Workshop Journal 0 Oxford University Press (OUP) 1363-3554 1477-4569 18 4 2026 2026-04-18 10.1093/hwj/dbag011 COLLEGE NANME Culture and Communications School COLLEGE CODE CACS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Swansea University 2026-04-28T11:28:50.0906025 2025-08-04T13:36:40.3193276 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - History Sarah Crook 0000-0002-1288-1488 1 70107__36622__0167bab3ad9842f8bab94716c4d67216.pdf 70107.VOR.pdf 2026-04-28T11:25:52.7771244 Output 620291 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2026. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive
spellingShingle The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive
Sarah Crook
title_short The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive
title_full The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive
title_fullStr The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive
title_full_unstemmed The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive
title_sort The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Gendering of Undercover Police Surveillance in 1970s Britain: the Public Inquiry as (Un)Ethical archive
author_id_str_mv b35484cf604604b6d6bc6873677417d1
author_id_fullname_str_mv b35484cf604604b6d6bc6873677417d1_***_Sarah Crook
author Sarah Crook
author2 Sarah Crook
format Journal article
container_title History Workshop Journal
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publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 1363-3554
1477-4569
doi_str_mv 10.1093/hwj/dbag011
publisher Oxford University Press (OUP)
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - History{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - History
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description In the 1970s a female police officer went undercover in the feminist movement in Britain. Across two years, she shared plans, conversations, and ephemera with Special Branch, while uncovering nothing that threatened state security. Yet her time in the movement is important to historians; she inadvertently created a rich archive of the feminist movement. For feminist historians, though, the use of this archive, made available by the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI, 2015–ongoing), raises issues around consent. This article considers these issues and uses the material exposed by the UCPI to explore the Women’s Liberation Movement’s perceived threat to social order.
published_date 2026-04-18T17:14:04Z
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score 11.106612

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