Nursery World - Documentary film night highlights childcare activism in the 1970s

A recent retro film night and discussion on 1970s childcare activism in London and NYC was both inspiring and frustrating. How much has really changed? Karen Hart reports

Market Nursery outside the Hayward Gallery in London when Hackney Flashers work ‘Who’s Holding the Baby?’ was on show, 1979 PHOTO Maggie Murray

The evening started with a showing of the 1970 New York documentary Childcare – People’s Liberation, which showed how a community-run childcare centre was both a much-needed step out of isolation and a move towards liberation, by not only providing children with a chance to play and make friends but also providing carers with the opportunity to meet others and develop relationships of their own. Shot mostly on the streets of New York City, the women interviewed expressed a collective feeling of isolation and frustration at a lack of suitable play spaces for their children, and of not having a voice that was listened to when asking for help from local government.

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