| Admin Biographical History | Tamar Karet (1942-2020) moved to London from New York in 1968, and became active in various London-based women's groups. In 1971 Tamar joined the Hollycroft Avenue Women's Liberation Group in Hampstead. This was one of many informal consciousness-raising groups which sprang up throughout Britain in the early 1970s. Perhaps unusually, this group was composed almost entirely of university-educated women who worked full-time and had no children. After asking Camden Council for short-term premises, The Kingsgate Place Women's Centre in West Hampstead opened in 1972, believed to be the first women's centre in Britain. (Chiswick Women's Aid opened at about the same time, but acted exclusively as a home for victims of domestic violence). The Kingsgate Place provided free pregnancy testing, medical and social services advice, lawyers who would answer queries by telephone, and in an emergency a bed could be provided for the night. A general meeting was held every Monday night at the centre. Although it had numerous social and support groups, the Hollycroft founders were primarily interested in changing legislation concerning women so a separate Anti-Discrimination Group was established. Early in 1973 the Kingsgate Anti-Discrimination Group submitted a paper on the Government's Green Paper entitled 'Proposals for a Tax-Credit System' which argued that married women should be taxed as individuals rather than as part of a married couple. The group also submitted a critical report on the Government's Consultative Document 'Equal Opportunities for Men and Women' in the same year. Meanwhile, Women in Media (WIM) was also lobbying for a sex discrimination bill. Tamar, who dealt with foreign rights for a publishing company, and the Kingsgate's Anti-Discimination Group, were keen to join WIM in lobbying for a bill. Tamar began to attend WIM meetings, initially liaising between the two groups, but then transferred her energies to Women in Media. The Kingsgate Place Women's Centre closed in Jan 1975 following organisational problems but some activities carried on until the early 1980s. Through WIM, Tamar acted as the co-ordinator of the Women's Rights Campaign in 1975 and became a co-founder of Women in Publishing following WIM's 1979 seminar on women's writing. |