News & Campaigns

All the latest from HER-itage and our affiliates

The Sanctuary at the Marylebone Project is open for women who are rough sleeping in Westminster

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year

No matter the time of day, the day of the week, the circumstances or the reason, The Sanctuary at the Marylebone Project is open for any women in crisis.

The Sanctuary is an all-encompassing space where vulnerable women at risk – during the day or at night – can feel safe, supported and not alone in dealing with the crisis they are facing allowing them to move forward.

Centre Advice workers can refer women to our Resettlement Team or directly into one of our Emergency Beds within our residential arm.

Aims of The Sanctuary

  • 24/7 service to serve as a haven for homeless women
  • Support and guidance from specialist advisors
  • A safe place accessible day or night
  • Food, clothing, shower facilities, laundry facilities available

Why We Operate 24/7/365

The issue of women’s homelessness is particularly acute. Often homeless women are extremely vulnerable, they can face horrendous treatment – including sexual abuse and violence – many of our women have reported feeling unsafe when accessing largely male homelessness services.

Our 24 – hour sanctuary will mean that women will have a safe place to go through the night.

Who Can Use The Sanctuary

Women who are rough sleeping in Westminster. Examples of current women being welcomed are:

  • Women who have been temporarily housed in hostels that are in abhorrent conditions
  • Food is often not included within hostel accommodation, so women come to The Sanctuary to shower and eat.
  • Women who have no recourse to public funds and are subsequently street homeless
  • Women who have mental health difficulties which grossly impact on their ability to maintain their accommodation

Full details at https://churcharmymain.s.zeal.xyz/marylebone/our-work/the-sanctuary/

November 12, 2021

MBRRACE-UK Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care Report 2021

MBRRACE-UK is pleased to announce the publication of the MBRRACE-UK Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care report for 20021.

The United Kingdom’s Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths represents a gold standard around the world for investigations and improvements in maternity care. Through its rigorous reviews, the Enquiry recognises the importance of learning from every woman’s death, during and after pregnancy, not only for staff and health services, but also the family and friends she leaves behind. This year the report examines in detail the care of 495 women who died during, or up to one year after, pregnancy between 2017 and 2019 in the UK. The report includes detailed chapters on mental health and multiple adversity, cancer in pregnancy and thromboembolism (blood clots). The report also includes a Morbidity Confidential Enquiry into the care of 37 women who gave birth over 45 years and who did not themselves die but many lost their babies. The report is relevant to maternity staff, service providers and policy-makers, and includes important learning for women and their families and third sector and advocacy organisations.

The full report, a core version of the report, the infographic and lay summary of the report are available for download from: https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/reports#mbrrace-uk-saving-lives-improving-mothers-care-lessons-learned-to-inform-maternity-care-from-the-uk-and-ireland-confidential-enquiries-into-maternal-deaths-and-morbidity-2017-19

https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk

November 12, 2021

Football supporters say no to sexist behaviour at the match – survey

Women are less willing to accept sexist behaviour at games, according to a new survey from the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA), which measured current attitudes against those of fans in 2014.

The Women at the Match survey was completed by more than 2,000 match-goers with almost half of the respondents (49%) saying that witnessing sexist behaviour made them angry, up from one in three (29%) previously.

Back in 2014 almost one in three (32%) said they were generally not bothered about witnessing something sexist at the match, whereas nowadays only one in every seven fans (15%) would have the same attitude.

Previously one in four (24%) women at the match would have laughed off sexism whereas nowadays that is down to one in eight (12%).

Fewer women again are willing to accept it as part of the matchday experience, 4% down from 10% when compared to 2014’s figures, and most (59%) would like to see clubs condemn individuals who exhibit such behaviour. Four in ten (39%) would like to see sexists ejected from the ground – up from 26% in 2014.

One in 20 supporters (5%) say that witnessing sexist behaviour at the match makes them not want to attend in future.

One in five women (20%) report having experienced unwanted physical attention while attending men’s football matches according to the survey, more than double the proportion from the same survey in 2014 (8%).

A much smaller proportion of fans report encountering sexist behaviour at women’s football (5%), and three-quarters (75%) said they have not heard sexist comments or chants, or experienced unwanted physical attention.

The FSA survey also asked women about other barriers to attending men’s matches with 51% citing high ticket prices, 45% cost and distance to games and 31% kick-off times being moved for TV.

In the women’s game, cost and distance of travel is the largest factor in preventing greater attendance for almost half of fans (48%). The issue of ticket prices is not as stark as in the men’s game but it remains an issue with 26% saying it is an obstacle to attendance.

Further info:

  • The FSA’s Women at the Match survey collated the experiences of more than 2,000 match-going football fans. First undertaken in 2014 it was revisited this year, with data collected on both the men’s and women’s games separately for the first time. 2,164 fans filled in the survey, which ran online between 13th August and 7th September 2021.
  • 97.2% of responded identified as women, 0.6% identified as non-binary, the remainder either self-identified as another gender, or preferred not to say.
  • From those who follow the men’s game, 61% are season ticket holders, and 81% attend at least five games a season. Of those who said they support a women’s team, 16% were season ticket holders, and 74% had attended matches pre-COVID.
  • Further statistical analysis will be posted on www.thefsa.org.uk following the Women at the Match’s publication launch.

Part of a longer press release at https://thefsa.org.uk/news/survey-supporters-say-no-to-sexist-behaviour-at-the-match/

See also:

 

November 12, 2021

15 November 2021 18:00 ~ Parties Unite For #AskHerToStand 2021 – 50:50 Parliament – Online

You are invited to 50:50’s inspirational #AskHerToStand zoom event! Let’s all support women who want to progress in politics #SignUpToStand

Our mission at 50:50 Parliament is to build a better democracy, one in which women have equal seats and equal say.

This event marks the 103rd year of the Qualification of Women Act, which was passed on 21 November 1918 and allowed women to stand for election for the first time ever.

To kick off the evening we have a video from the PM supporting 50:50.

We will then hear from an inspirational panel about how everyone can help women succeed in politics.

Following the panel discussion, you will have the opportunity to network in breakout rooms and meet the 50:50 Team.

Guests:

  • Victoria Atkins MP – Conservative
  • Ian Blackford MP – SNP Leader in Westminster
  • Wendy Chamberlain MP – Lib Dem
  • Stella Creasy MP – Labour & Vote Mama
  • Nanda Manley-Brown 50:50 Diversity Chair (tbc)
  • Jackie Weaver – Passionate about Local Councils

The event will be hosted by 50:50’s founder Frances Scott.

About us:

50:50 Parliament’s mission is to build a better democracy, one in which women have equal seats and equal say.

50:50 work with all the political parties to encourage women to stand and help them get selected as candidates at local and national level. When women click #SignUpToStand via www.5050Parliament.co.uk/signuptostand we:

  • send them an interactive Personal Political Profile
  • allocate them a 50:50 Buddy
  • invite them to weekly party specific Bite Size meetings
  • and offer bespoke support to women from diverse groups.

In the corridors of power, men still outnumber women by 2:1. Campaign for change!

This is event is funded by Comic Relief as part of the Equal Power coalition. Our partners are the Fawcett Society, ElectHer, Glitch UK, Muslim Women’s Network UK, Citizens UK and Centenary Action Group.

  • Time Nov 15, 2021 6:00pm
  • Finishes 7:30pm

To register for this event go to https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArfuyqrjIuEtJHy1sUG4zdIRH7RWA40kew

 

November 10, 2021

18 November 2021 18:00 ~ Remembering Eleanor Rathbone – Mother of Child Benefit – Crossroads Women & The Remembering Eleanor Rathbone Group – Online

Oral history project – launch of publication

Seventy-five years from the first payment of family allowance (now child benefit), on 6 August 1946, mothers and other family members remember the formidable feminist campaigner who made this happen. A team of volunteers interviewed 145 women and 10 men, aged 36 to 95, from different regions and backgrounds in the UK, on what this payment meant to them and their families. The publication also includes excerpts from Rathbone’s pathbreaking The Disinherited Family and from the historical parliamentary debates which prefaced the introduction of the Family Allowances Act 1945 – the first measure of the new Welfare State. This project is a timely reminder that child poverty is not only still with us but is rising, and that the caring work of mothers and others remains undervalued.

Speakers will include:

  • BARONESS LISTER, Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University;
  • JENNY RATHBONE, great-niece of Eleanor, Member of the Senedd for Cardiff Central;
  • SOLVEIG FRANCIS, Crossroads Women;
  • LESLEY URBACH, The Remembering Eleanor Rathbone Group, and mothers who contributed interviews.

A joint project of Crossroads Women and The Remembering Eleanor Rathbone Group.

Funded by the Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Until 19:30 – register online at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/remembering-eleanor-rathbone-mother-of-child-benefit-tickets-194952888337

November 10, 2021