Outwrite

The concept of Outwrite, a newspaper which would support and represent the cause of international feminism, was developed at a women’s movement conference in 1979, during a workshop run by Shaila Shah and Dena Attar. Shaila Shah moved to Britain from India in around 1974 and helped forge the collective that started the newspaper as a way to elevate the voices of Black and Third World women (as described by her).

The Outwrite collective produced a monthly newspaper for six years between 1982 and 1988, and it sought to respond to and raise awareness of issues affecting women around the world (not solely the ‘West’), and what they saw as the imperial legacies, racism and elitism of the white women’s movement in Britain at that point. The main content of the newspaper often included articles, news pieces, illustrations and advertisements. Its commitment to the women’s movement worldwide was reflected in the intentional timing of its first issue, on International Women’s Day, 8 March 1982.

Outwrite was managed and produced by a ‘collective’ (five women, originally) which, according to the aims of the newspaper, had to consist of at least 50 per cent Black women (meaning women of minority ethnic backgrounds, ‘Third World’ women, South Asian women, etc.). Given the specific identity of the collective, its journalism focused on issues which were important to ‘Black women’ and women from 'Third World' countries, and also drew attention to how the politics of these groups intersected with communities such as LGBT women.

A central objective of the collective was to make space on the media market for these voices, but competing with other national publications was challenging. Shah, one of its founders, has explained that initially the newspaper was relatively financially stable due to donations and funding from the Greater London Council. This allowed the collective to employ writers and editors. This funding stream was removed in 1986, meaning subscriptions and sponsors had to be secured and maintained to stay afloat, which also added to the pressures of running a newspaper. Nonetheless, the newspaper reached estimated circulation figures of over 4,000 readers across the period of its run in the mid-1980s.