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Strengthening the Voice of Women in the NW

19 September 2011

The Women’s Solidarity Forum in partnership with VSNW, One North West and Oxfam, delivered an event at the end of May that brought together seventy one women from across the women’s voluntary and community sector (VCS) in the North West to respond to Government’s Strengthening Women’s Voices consultation. This included women from refugee and migrant groups, LGBT, domestic violence workers, academics, mainstream VCS, BME women’s specialist services, local authority, rape crisis workers and women’s welfare workers.

The consultation was part of a whole day event that included talks from Members of Parliament about the importance of political engagement, a workshop on the equality implications of current policy and a presentation from the Women’s Resource Centre on the state of the women’ sector.

Members from the Women’s Solidarity Forum facilitated discussion around the Government’s consultation and were joined by Helene Reardon-Bond and Barbara Lindsey from the Government Equalities Office. This submission highlights the most important challenges for the women's sector in the North West, which include:

The impact of the reduction in public spending on women and the women's sector
Women's empowerment: both politically and economically
The need to recognise multiple disadvantage
Violence against women and girls

The report also supports direct engagement and using the expertise of the sector as the key mechanisms for engagement, although believes that all methods are appropriate if used together as part of a wider strategy to listen, value and invest in the women's VCS.

The report is available here:

Strengthening Women's Voices in the North West