Women’s services and organisations provide vital support for victims of violence. Many women rely on these services to rebuild their lives. With cuts to women’s services, less people are able to seek the help they need as a lack of funding means that women’s organisations are left with limited capacity to help survivors. Women’s services not only support these women, they also campaign for victims of sexual violence and raise awareness to tackle the stigma surrounding survivors of sexual violence and rape. Their work is life-saving.

The government must stop cutting the funding to the sector so that women’s services do not have to turn away women that need help. The government should also collaborate with these specialist services to create a national strategy to end violence against women. It must be noted that smaller specialist women’s organisations, like those for Black and minoritised women with specific language or disability needs for example, are suffering disproportionately under funding cuts.

What difference does WRC make on the funding crisis for the women’s sector?

Research

We are continuously building the evidence-base on the need for specialist women’s organisations through research and reports. See for example the 2018 report by WRC and WBG Life-Changing and Life Saving – Funding for the women’s sector. Find more reports in the WRC Library. You can also read our blog on why commissioning doesn't work for women's charities.

Advocacy and campaigning

Our work on CEDAW resulted in the CEDAW Committee to recommend the UK Government to ensure appropriate and accurate funding for women’s specialist organisations.

Our Tampon Tax Campaign asks the UK Government to ring-fence funding from the Tampon Tax Fund for women’s health and support charities as promised. We are also asking the Government to pay back the debt of the £700m collected from this VAT to women’s charities.

Partnerships and collaborations

The WSCU project generated a total of £1,453,076 for the organisations involved in the partnership

The London VAWG Consortium has secured £29.4m in grants since 2013

Holding the line for specialists

Women’s Resource Centre is wholly committed to the principle of led by and for. We stand up for women’s organisations and women only services and spaces, because all evidence shows that’s what works best for women and that’s what they want. We also extend the led by and for principle to specific groups of women, BME women, lesbian women and disabled women - Nothing about us without us