Power & Prejudice - combating gender inequality through women's organisations
WRC's groundbreaking new report examines what helps - and what hinders - women's organisations in creating change at a local level.
The research identifies the barriers facing women's organisations in being able to create these changes, presents learnings on what factors and what useful tools can help with local engagement and offers clear, practical solutions to both public bodies and women's organisations to improve this local engagement.
The project used a participatory action model, a social justice model of research that aims to empower those taking part in the research to act on improving conditions in their lives. In addition, the project was complemented by a literature review of existing research on the issue and a gender equality audit of local public bodies' policies.
You can find a full copy of the report here:
WRC Power and Prejudice FINAL.pdf (678.83KB)
Read the press release to accompany the report here.
In addition, WRC has produced a number of resources to support women's organisations in having their say at a local level, and to support public bodies to better work with women and their organisations. These resources will be made available on this website after the report's launch.
Report on North-East Women's Network - strengthening the women's sector
This is a report of a strategic fundraising conference hosted by NEWomen’s
Network in March 2010.
The conference was the result of collaboration between the NEWomen’s Network, Women’s Resource Centre and the National Equalities Partnership.
The aims of the event were as follows:
a) To promote the value of the women’s sector in the North East
b) To share our experience and expertise to explore how best to sustain
women’s community voluntary organisations
Read the report at the link below:
Strengthening the women's sector (1240.62KB)
Feasibility study of shared premises for women's organisations
Publication date: October 2009
The Women's Resource Centre has commissioned a feasibility study to assess the premises needs of the women's sector in London. This report looks at the first stage of the feasibility process by evaluating the scope for a "women's centre of excellence" in London.
View full report (2110.76KB)
View executive summary (696.57KB)
Not just bread, but roses, too: Funding to the women's voluntary and community sector in England 2004-07
Publication date: March 2009
This report maps women’s organisations across all of the English regions. WRC have looked at areas organisations work in, equalities strands focussed on and tracked income and expenditure data for 2004 to 2007. The report is divided into an England-wide overview and a comparison of the regions as well as appendices for each of the nine Government Office Regions in England.
View report (2710KB)
Appendix 1: East Midlands
Appendix 2: East of England
Appendix 3: London
Appendix 4: North East
Appendix 5: North West
Appendix 6: South East
Appendix 7: South West
Appendix 8: West Midlands
Appendix 9: Yorkshire and the Humber
CEDAW Shadow Report
Publication date: April 2008
The Women's Resource Centre's Shadow Report for the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. This report describes some of the key issues facing women's organisations and argues that such organisations are crucial to the implementation of the CEDAW Convention.
View full report
View WRC's 2004 Shadow Report
The Crisis in Rape Crisis: A survey of Rape Crisis (England & Wales) centres
Publication date: March 2008
In-depth interviews with 35 Rape Crisis centres explores their funding and sustainability, service users, staffing and political and public awareness of the work of Rape Crisis centres.
View full report
View executive summary
More information on this report and our campaigning on this issue
The impact of commissioning on women's organisations
Publication date: January 2008
This briefing discusses the impact on women's organisations of the current trend towards commissioning services. A special focus on the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) shows how commissioning can fail women and children by failing to account for their differing needs.
View briefing
Where are the women in LSPs?
Publication date: 2007
Local Strategic Partnerships are key decision-making bodies at local level, controlling significant resources, and all public bodies now have legal obligations under the Gender Duty to actively promote gender equality. But this report, published by Urban Forum, Oxfam and the Women’s Resource Centre, reveals that only a quarter of chairs of LSP Boards are women. The report also found that the voice of women’s voluntary and community organisations is hardly heard at all. Fewer than 2 per cent of voluntary and community sector representatives on LSPs are women’s organisations, despite making up 7 per cent of the voluntary and community sector.
View full report
Why women-only? The values and benefits of 'by women, for women' services
Publication date: October 2007
This report aims to answer the question asked increasingly of many women’s organisations by funders and the public: "Why are you women-only?". This timely report sets out why women-only services are still relevant and much in demand. The research also explores the far-reaching benefits of women-only services, the need for minority women to run their own specific services, the misunderstandings and undervaluation of women-only service provision, and the risks to the future survival of such services.
View full report
Funding to London Women's RefugesPublication date: August 2007
Commissioned by London Councils, this research looks at Supporting People and other funding to women's refuges and some of the issues impacting on the sustainability of refuges in London. Includes information on unmet needs and women with no recourse to public funds.
View full report
View executive summary
The economic and social impact of the women's voluntary and community sector
Publication date: June 2006
The Women’s Resource Centre, supported by funding from the Association of London Government (ALG), commissioned Matrix to carry out a pilot study of the economic impact of women’s organisations. The study uses four case studies of women’s voluntary and community organisations in London providing services to women or women and children.
View full report
why women?
Publication date: March 2006
The
why women?
report launched WRC's campaign of the same name on Thursday 23 March 2006. The report is based on information from in-depth interviews with 44 women’s organisations. The research describes the issues and problems that women’s organisations work with, the range of services and activities they offer to address these issues, the impact of their services and barriers to their sustainability.
View executive summary
View full report
More information on this report and our campaigning on this issue
CEDAW Shadow Report
Publication date: December 2004
Throughout 2004, WRC's Policy Team facilitated a network of organisations to produce a Shadow Report for the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. The Shadow Report has a range of statistics and qualitative information about women on issues such as prisons, prostitution, political and public life, representation, migrant domestic workers, refugees and asylum seekers, education, employment, health, benefits, pensions, housing, the judiciary system, legal aid, domestic violence, rape and sexual assault.
View full report
Funding...into the abyss?
Publication date: March 2004
Small scale, qualitative research which looks at three Black and minority ethnic women’s voluntary and community groups in an attempt to draw out some of the funding issues they are contending with. The findings provide some important anecdotal evidence of the struggle that the Black and minority ethnic women’s voluntary and community sector faces in an increasingly competitive funding environment.
View full report