Feminism and Gender Matters

Caryl Churchill has long been associated with feminist theatre, and her plays often explore issues of gender politics in both a contemporary and historical context. Many critics look at her creative process itself, rooted in collaborative workshops, as a marker of her feminist approach to theatre. You can read more about Churchill’s workshop process in The Workshop Process guide. Throughout her career, Churchill’s plays have been influenced and shaped by the gender, political, and cultural issues of the time. This guide will explain the broad history of feminist theatre and how Churchill’s plays explore contemporary issues of gender and feminist values.

Terminology

• Feminist theatre: Theatre that is focused on women's stories, separate from men, and often examines gender, class, race, and privilege within social, cultural, and historical systems.
• Male gaze: The act of female characters being presented from a heterosexual male perspective, usually as an object of desire or pleasure.

Key Dates & Events

• February 1970: More than 600 women attend the first National Women's Liberation Movement Conference in Oxford, England
• November 12, 1975: England enacts the Sex Discrimination Act and the Employment Protect Act to prohibit certain forms of discrimination based on gender and forbid employers from dismissing employees as a result of pregnancy.
• February 14, 1979: Cloud 9 premiers at Dartington College of the Arts
• May 4, 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• August 28, 1982: Top Girls premiers at the Royal Court Theatre.