After graduating Rhodes organised events at The Women's Centre Glasgow and the Transmission Gallery. She was a committee member of the Transmission Gallery from 1986 to 1988 and co-founded the Glasgow Free University with the writers Alasdair Gray and James Kelman in 1987. Furthermore, Rhodes worked as an assistant at the Third Eye Centre, and part-time as a technician at the Tramway and the Centre for Contemporary Art. During the 1980s, she took part in movements associated with radical left-wing feminism. Rhodes took part in the Reclaim the Night demonstrations, joined anti-nuclear protesters at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, and protested against the introduction of nuclear submarines at HMNB Clyde.
