'Everything that makes up a woman's life’: feminism and femininity in Houseparty

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.