In 1970 the phrase "The Personal Is Political" appeared as the title of an essay by Carol Hanish in the collection Notes from the Second Year: Women’s Liberation. Writing in 2006 Hanish explained that the title wasn't chosen by her but by the editors of the collection, Shulamith Firestone and Anne Koedt. Hanish also explained a bit about the title, and the issue of consciousness-raising groups:
One of the first things we discover in these groups is that personal problems are political problems. There are no personal solutions at this time. There is only collective action for a collective solution.That pretty clearly expresses the point she was making, and justifies the title. It makes sense, however, to assume that people used the phrase, or similar phrases, considerably earlier. I associate it with 1960 counter-cultural politics, but I'm sure that throughout history we can find examples that reflect the idea that achieving "personal solutions" is only possible through working in a political framework.