Does anyone reading this think everything is OK?

 

Does anyone have the time actually to think, converse, share ideas, strategise?

 

Whilst our country's infrastructure continues crumbling before our eyes, it seems a void of inertia is seeping into its place.

 

There are many of us who would like to replace this void of inertia, and I’m guessing we are the majority…

 

In our sector—the women’s sector—we are facing a dismantling and depletion like never before. At the same time as demand for the emergency services our sector provides soars, our resources are being rapidly depleted.

 

It feels like funders aren’t taking this seriously to me.

 

Apart from two very small funders, we have almost no dedicated funding programmes for women’s organisations. 

 

Given that women are at least half the population and, in the main, the primary carers of children, families and often their local community members, it seems unbelievable that our work should be ignored and underfunded. 

 

The crumbling infrastructure of our country only leads to more need for our vital sector, not just in the provision of services, but equally important in the work many of us do to reimagine and shift to a society where our work is no longer needed; that is the achievement of women’s rights.

 

We know that our rights are not improving; they are, at best, stagnating and, at worst, regressing.

 

The void of inertia witnessed across decision-makers and government requires us to step up and step into that void.

 

We need to carve out time to talk, think and strategise; to build our own narrative for a vision for women’s rights.

 

The last decade or so has seen few gains and many losses; many of the gains are simply filing off the sharp edges of draconian policies and laws.

 

Adopting a primarily reactive approach is not working for women, children, families and communities.

 

The time for a clear, unapologetic vision is now.

If not now, when?

If not us, who?

 

In the words of June Jordan, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”

 

Vivienne Hayes, CEO

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Sign our petition and join the call for an independent, national women's fund to support women. https://www.change.org/womensfund