You will notice that we look different!
Women’s Action Network Dorset has been a Community Voluntary Group since 2010 and we are delighted to have become a Community Interest Company in September this year. So, we are now officially Dorset Women CIC and we love our new look.
You can still find us on all the socials as @DorsetWomen and visit our new website to read about the cornerstones of our new strategy and the 3 pillars of our work. We are still the same committed people behind the scenes!
Dorset Women’s Charter
The Dorset Women’s Charter remains the focus of our work towards changing society for Women. It is growing in interest and we are increasingly working with partners to achieve its Aims and to take action under its 10 Standards.
Are you ‘In’? Please give your support to the Dorset Women’s Charter by completing this short questionnaire. The more women who say ‘I’m In!’, the more authority we have to act on your behalf.
Women’s Health
We have made great progress in our work under Standard 3: Health, Menstruation and Menopause and Standard 4: Reproductive Health, Pregnancy & Baby Loss. Following our fantastic Women’s Health Symposium in March this year we have bought together a Stakeholder Taskforce including decision makers from the NHS, and started a huge project that will consider a wide range of women’s health issues. After several months of discussions and workshops these are the project’s 5 priorities.
As a result of this programme, we are delighted that the NHS has received funding for a new virtual Women’s Health Hub which will go live in September 2024.
Do you have an experience of women’s health services or would just like to have your say? Get involved here by telling us what we need to know.
Safety & Justice
We are reassured to discover that there is a LOT going on across Dorset to reduce gender-based violence and women’s experiences of the criminal justice system. We have been meeting and talking with many partners and deciding how we can contribute to this wealth of work.
From 25th November, as part of the United Nations campaign of 16 Days of Activism to end violence against women, BCP Council is coordinating a series of events. As part of the programme, we will be hosting a round table discussion on 7th December 18.30 with 4 of Dorset’s experts. This will be a FREE zoom event on the subject of Life After Abuse – What Does it Take to Recover and Rise? For more information and to book your place, visit Eventbrite for details.
Society, Leadership & Politics
We don’t’ know about you, but we are not happy that there are no elected women MPs in Dorset and only 30% of Councillors in Dorset and 40% in BCP Councils are women.
We have been inspired by the 50:50 Parliament campaign and so we are hosting our own event on 10th January 2024 to start a conversation in Dorset about how we can see more people representing women’s issues to decision makers in local and national government.
There will be more details to follow, please save the date.
In the meantime, we have been busy responding to consultations from our local councils. You may be interested in our responses to consultations on Housing (Dorset Council), the Voluntary Sector (Dorset Council) and Strategic Transport Priorities (BPC Council).
Data
The common theme in our recent research and publications is the issue of data. We believe that it is critical that, before decision makers consider ANYTHING else, they need to sex-disaggregate their data. This means breaking the data in to sex and gender categories in order that they can see information that might be different for different people. The risk of not sex-disaggregating data is that gender bias in society is unknowingly perpetuated rather than addressed.
Get Involved
Want to be more involved? There are lots of ways you can be part of what we are doing.
Join our conversations on our social media channels and tell us what you think. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Take part in one of our consultations, on those of our partner organisations. You can find them on our new website here.
Volunteer
We always need more people, and we have a range of different opportunities if you’re looking for a chance to ‘give something back’ and to join a passionate organisation committed to creating change for women. From researchers to administrators, from social media to being an ambassador. There really is something for everyone.
See all our opportunities here.