After almost 40 years volunteering and working in the Women’s Sector I can honestly say women’s rights and our women’s sector are facing the most challenging times in my memory.

If you would have asked me at the start of the 1980’s what would the future look like I would have said it’s going to be better; our work across anti-sexist and anti-racist movements were blossoming, working class young people were vocal, challenging structural racism and sexism, communities were coming together with shared ambitions.

It was also helped enormously because we had music that was politicised and brought us together through the punk and reggae genres.

We saw the birth of two tone, the Specials and the fabulous Pauline Black.

It was a time of great hope and inspiration…..

So how did we get here and what is going on.

Well as with most phenomena there is no one answer.

I am beginning to think the success of our efforts to dismantle oppressive structures and the institutions that uphold them have sent a warning signal to those who hold the power and the purse strings and they are attempting to put us back firmly in our place- at the bottom of the pile again.

Our Women’s sector is being dismantled with a mere 1.8% of charitable funding going to women’s charities. And if we interrogate this further it is no surprise that black women’s organisations are fairing the worst.

Since oppression rests on the structures created by patriarchy white supremacy and capitalism it is no surprise that we see Black women and their organisations at most risk in the dismantling of our sector.

National policy making and the cost of living crisis are having the biggest impact on working class people and in particular black and minoritised and disabled women. Many are struggling to feed their children and secure a home fit to live in.

For about 20 years now we have watched the progressive attack on women’s specialist services and the gender neutralising of service provision by those in Local Authorities and government. The policy focus in this gender neutral approach is contributing to the dismantling of our sector, indeed in recent months we have seen the government make a direct award of £53 million for a programme working with perpetrators of domestic violence whilst rape crisis centres continue to face closure. We also heard recently that in London there is consideration being given to ring fence funding for male victims of domestic violence. When we know that men are predominantly the perpetrators of violence and women predominantly the ones violated this is of grave concern.

But as we know gender neutral in a patriarchal system actually favours men.

In addition to this the process by which most funding from state bodies is delivered- competitive commissioning is unfit for purpose in relation to organisations working for social change, justice and rights.

It’s ironic when we are constantly told there’s not enough money that the money that is available is spent so unwisely through competitive commissioning that almost always excludes the small local organisations doing all the hard work across our communities.

I am not an economist but it’s very plain to see our economic system, which is man made and therefore a choice just is not working for the vast majority of the country and the world.

Sexism and Racism is in built into capitalism and we really need to be developing shared alternative narratives about what kind of economic system works better.

Whilst we are able to identify the things that need to change we need crucially to have time and space to think strategically, with vision and with bold ambition about the solutions.

So that is precisely what Women’s Recourse Centre and our National Advisory Board from our membership has done;

• We launched our simple bold initiative in January 2026 of the The Women’s Forever Fund
• We are asking for a share of the Dormant Assets held by the Treasury; approximately £25 Billion made up of various unclaimed funds from members of the public.
• The government has released millions of these Dormant Asset for ‘Social Good’ but women have never been beneficiaries.

So given these unprecedented times of global misogyny and racism we think it’s the perfect moment for our government to do the right thing and support our work and our sector.

Please support the Women’s Recourse Centre, sign the petition and write to your MP

In sisterhood and solidarity. Together we are stronger.

“We are not outnumbered we are out organised” Malcolm X

“We are the ones we have been waiting for” June Jordan

“Hope is resistance” Nawal El Sadaawi

Author Bio: Vivienne Hayes MBE is the Chief Executive of the Women’s Resource Centre (WRC). With over 30 years in the women’s sector, both delivering services and leading organisations, her passion is working towards substantive equality for all women. She has been key to the UK government’s examination of CEDAW at the UN on their progress in achieving all women’s rights. Vivienne was awarded the National Diversity Award 2013 for Gender Role Model & WRC won the Third Sector 2014 award for Britain’s Most Admired Charity. She continues to support building the collective voice of women and women’s organisations as the critical vehicle for social change and achieving women’s rights.