Saved from the choppers this year, the almost closure of the Women’s Library forces a moment of reflection on women’s rights then and now.

From having a £4.2m lottery funded building gifted to them ten years ago, how is it that this year the Library opened in 1926 by Millicent Fawcett and home to Europe’s most extensive archive of women’s rights material could be so on its uppers?

The culture of chops have left many institutions that prioritise culture and thought over profit scrabbling for survival, but the change in fortune of the women’s library could also be viewed through the increasingly antediluvian attitudes to women’s rights creeping back to the fore. Whether it’s the ongoing debates on abortion, or the uniquely strange views of Republicans on the nature of rape, the threatened side lining of the Women’s Library seemed a further example of the changing tide in issues affecting women.

For now the Women’s Library has been guaranteed continued funding from LSE. While opening times seem forever sporadic, for those who can, check out their current exhibition The Long March to Equality for some apt reflection.

The Long March to Equality: Treasures of the Women’s Library is on until 22 February. For more info visit here.