New study reveals local power and prejudice for women’s organisations
The Women’s Resource Centre has published a new report titled “Power and Prejudice” that looks at what helps, and what hinders, women’s organisations in creating change at a local level.
The report, based on 18 months of research, gathered the experiences and expertise of four local women’s organisations working across England to examine the barriers stopping them from being most effective.
The Women’s Resource Centre undertook the research because “Women’s organisations make life better for women. Yet we know from previous research that they are rarely involved in a formal way in local decision-making and with local decision-making structures.
“This is a missed opportunity for local public bodies to support women and girls and to improve the quality of local decision-making.”
Local public bodies would make better decisions, and communities would receive better services, if they were informed by more diverse and representative views and perspectives from women.
The main barriers to women’s organisations’ local engagement were found to be:
- Lack of knowledge and confidence about how to engage locally
- Hitting a brick wall with public bodies
- The contested issue of evidence and expertise
- Gender equality not on the local agenda
- Invisibility of the women’s sector
- Funding problems
- Survival and sustainability
The report recommends that local government be responsive to local needs by prioritising the supporting of women and their organisations to better engage and participate in meaningful ways.
In addition, “women have different routes to empowerment and community engagement than men. This needs to be acknowledged in the community organiser’s model that is being advocated in the Government’s Big Society plan and must draw upon good practice to ensure women’s participation.”
The full report is available here, and more information about the Women’s Resource Centre is available here.
