These feminist posters were radical when first created. Some are still painfully relevant today

See Red Women’s Workshop was radical when it was founded in 1974.

“A poster is a good way of telling a story and making an impact quickly,” says Anne Robinson, who became a member of the feminist collective in 1978.

Black women rallying against state brutality, a woman trapped inside a pill bottle, a Miss World contestant sitting on the back of a housewife – both exploited by men – were a few of the scenes depicted in the posters created by See Red.

The screen printing studio ran between 1974 and 1990 in London, during which around 40 women got involved, creating posters that challenged sexist images and fought for a fairer world. 

A selection is featured in the Saatchi Gallery’s Beyond the Streets exhibition, alongside Big Issue magazine covers from the last 35 years. It will trace six decades of street culture and its influence. 

See Red started decades before the internet existed. They distributed the posters to bookshops, community centres, women’s centres and through paper catalogues sent in the post.

“And people would actually buy them,” says Robinson. “They were very cheap. I think the last ones I was involved in were about 90p each. It was very affordable at the time.”

Read more:

• Marriage: A feminist history
• International Women’s Day: 50 feminist books to smash the patriarchy
• Gloria Steinem and the ‘long, long, long’ feminist revolution

The posters in the exhibition were chosen to show “the visual impact of political posters that were on the streets and the range of issues covered”. 

“I think the posters vary in terms of how very directly they speak now,” she says. 

There were some which were rooted in a very specific period, such as one about the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp or other historical initiatives.

But Robinson suggests that these still can feel “relevant because of current protests and the rules around it, and also situations we’re in now with war and threats of war”.

A 1977 poster, Right on Jane, hits back at a Ladybird children’s book for suggesting that “Peter washes the car and Jane does the dishes”. 

“Part of the value of preserving the legacy of See Red’s work is preserving those histories of things that happened,” Robinson adds.

She believes it’s important not to “lose sight of historical moments and struggles, and how these have developed, and to recognise the things that have changed and not changed”.

“Massively more women go into higher education and training and go on and have jobs. On the other hand, women in manual trades was a campaign at the time, and how many women builders do we see? How many female electricians do we see? Not very many. Equal pay we haven’t achieved yet.”

She says she feels particularly saddened by how relevant the anti-racist posters are today. “We really wish it wasn’t so relevant. We really wish it was a thing of the past,” she says.

There have been some who have tried to use the posters to promote anti-trans narratives, but Robinson says See Red is “absolutely not” anti-trans and has worked to distance itself from that movement.

“Feminism is still relevant, and people can argue about exactly how you can express that, but it’s so important, from equal pay to women’s health issues.”  

“That’s one that’s changed. There’s a poster with a women’s body on it and the reproductive system, and nobody would bat an eyelid now. You would have to be in the heart of redneck America. But at the time, it was a really radical thing.”

See Red Women’s Workshop features in the Beyond the Streets exhibition, showing at Saatchi Gallery, London until 5 May 2027

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – and always take the magazine. It’s how vendors earn with dignity and move forward.

You can also support online:
Subscribe to the magazine or support our work with a monthly gift. Your support helps vendors earn, learn and thrive while strengthening our frontline services.

Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.