My friend Ellen Malos, who has died aged 85, was one of the co-founders in 1972 of the Bristol Women’s Centre, a feminist campaigning hub for which she volunteered over a number of years. Serving as a pregnancy testing centre, as well as a refuge for women suffering domestic violence, the centre initially used the basement of Ellen’s house as an office.
Although it was eventually replaced by a network of other projects provided by national organisations, one way or another Ellen continued as a volunteer and adviser on feminist initiatives and safe houses in the city until her retirement.
She was born in Ballarat, a mining town in Australia, the eldest of the six children of Jack Scarlett, a glazier, and Mabel (nee Ellis), a knitwear worker. Formidably intelligent and inquiring, with a love of books, after attending Ballarat high school she studied English and history at Melbourne University, where she met fellow student John Malos through their mutual interest in socialist student politics. They married in 1958 and four years later moved to the UK.
Settling in Bristol, John became a physics lecturer at Bristol University, and Ellen began a doctorate at the same institution before giving up her studies to look after their two young children, Rob and Anna.
Once they had become teenagers, in 1979 she completed a diploma in social administration at Bristol, which helped in her work with the Women’s Centre.
In 1979 she contributed to a book called Half the Sky: An Introduction to Women’s Studies, published by the Bristol Women’s Study Group, and in 1980 edited The Politics of Housework, an anthology of feminist essays.
The following year Ellen became a part-time lecturer in social policy at Bristol University, where she did research into violence against women. In 1990, with her academic colleague, Gill Hague, she established the Centre for Gender and Violence Research within the university’s School for Policy Studies. In 2006 she was given an honorary doctorate by the university.
Feminism, friendship and family were integral to her life, and she regularly visited her extended family in Australia. With a dry and wicked sense of humour, she was an excellent companion – and someone who always put others first.
John died in 1995. She is survived by Rob and Anna.
