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Winners 2004
Individual Award: Margaret Kennedy
Margaret Kennedy, who has dedicated her life to supporting and advocating for women and children who have been abused. Margaret was nominated and awarded the prize primarily for the way she has taken on Christian, and especially the Catholic, church in the UK, not just in relation to the sexual abuse of children but sexual exploitation of adult women by Christian clergy.
Group Award: The Poppy Project
The Poppy Project, the only dedicated service providing accommodation and support to women trafficked to the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
Special Award - Samira Bellil
A special posthumous award was also conferred on Samira Bellil, who died that year aged 31, and fought a courageous battle to persuade French society to confront the prevalence of gang rape, particularly in the suburbs of Paris and other major cities.
Other Nominees 2004
Individuals
Saqina Dario - Saqina Dario is a Sudanese refugee who fled South Sudan in 1993 to come to the UK. Saqina worked as a teaching assistant in Sudan but was also active in campaigning against female genital mutilation, and assisting women in rural areas to access help, support and education. Once Saqina arrived in the UK she set up a South Sudanese Women’s Group, and she was chair of this group for many years. The group supported South Sudanese Women but also had an important role in raising Refugee Women’s issues across refuge communities. The group is still active today. Saqina worked as FGM Programmes Co-coordinator in Sheffield, raising awareness of and campaigning against FGM. Following the birth of her child, she found a job working locally at Refugee Action in Leeds; she has continued in her own time to run workshops around FGM and spread awareness of this form of violence against women.
Joy Etheridge - Joy is a survivor of domestic violence. She is a campaigner, trainer, facilitator and national speaker who raises awareness of the issues of domestic violence. In 2000 she worked as a volunteer on the Freedom Programme with the probation service in Birkenhead, working with women on probation, victims of domestic violence, and helped develop a training programme which enabled women to identify and understand the tactics used by perpetrators, and thus return to normal life better equipped to keep abuse out of their lives and that of their children. 1n 2001, Joy raised the funds to create Freedom and Empowerment for Women which proved as weekly venue for women to enhance their lives through this kind of voluntary training programme. She has continued to campaign and raise awareness through various initiatives, and her work has made a huge contribution to understanding and combating this abhorrent form of social injustice.
Fran Fox - Fran is a member of UNISON, the trade union for workers in the public services and whose members are mostly women. She has brought the subject of domestic abuse to the attention of her own employer in Portsmouth and to that of employers further afield in health and local government. She has always emphasised that domestic abuse is a workplace issue and therefore an issue for trade unions. Fran has carried out a huge amount of work in her voluntary capacity as a trade union member, in negotiations, lobbying, training and practical initiatives. She has sought tirelessly to communicate the message that domestic violence is an issue whose effects are carried beyond the home into a woman’s work life, and that good employer’s need to recognise this and support their employees accordingly.
Kay Glynn - Over the past 30 years, Kay Glynn has devoted herself to assisting women experiencing domestic violence, empowering them to make their own decisions, raising awareness around this subject, and being an invaluable source of inspiration and support to the women she has worked for and with. She began working in this field as a refuge worker. Having witnessed the legal system’s appalling treatment of women, in 1982 she decided to study law, eventually becoming a family lawyer specialising in children and contact. Kay was one of the founders of Camden Women’s Aid, and as chair of their board, she was instrumental in assisting them in becoming the only refuge which owns its own property. She also co-founded Solas Anois, the only Irish refuge in England. In more recent times, her successful application to the legal services commission led to the creation of a free legal and advice service to women in Camden, which she now manages: a unique service which allows all women, including those with no access to public funds, to access legal help regarding domestic violence.
Groups
Behind Closed Doors - BCD has been nominated because of their outstanding work to raise awareness about domestic violence and challenge attitudes towards it in a rural area. BCD supports women experiencing domestic violence within communities, including suburbs, market towns, villages and outlying rural areas on the outskirts of Leeds and Bradford. The problems faced by women and children experiencing domestic violence in rural areas are compounded by isolation, limited access to services and transport, issues of confidentiality and anonymity in a close-knit community, and their plight is often overlooked by agencies that serve more densely populated urban areas. BCD has successfully worked to overcome these problems in resourceful and innovative ways. For 5 years the project was maintained on a voluntary basis by local women, dependent on small donations and grants, followed by a successful bid to the community fund, and a three year funded post of coordinator was created. They have continued to fight for women in remote areas in a variety of ways, through training and preventative education, and by promoting partnerships and multi-agency working.
Southall Black Sisters - SBS have a long history of providing support from women in situations of domestic violence, and of inventive campaigning. They are nominated this year for the unstinting work they have done to contribute to the government’s consultation exercise on domestic violence, and subsequently the Domestic Violence Bill. As a member of the standing committee for the Domestic Violence Bill, Vera Baird commends them for their clarity of input and the strength and voracity of their campaigning. The importance of their work for victims of domestic violence cannot be underestimated, and they are nominated here in recognition and celebration of this remarkable work.
The Muslim Women’s Welfare Association - The association was set up in 1980 in the London borough of Waltham Forest, with the aim of providing support and advice to Asian women in the local community, addressing the isolation many women felt, and making them aware of their entitlements. The organisation has also provided training opportunities for women, including ESM and computer skills, in a women-only environment. The establishment of this organisation was a break-through for the Asian community as women would suffer in silence, many not aware of their rights in society, having been dominated by partners and family members. In taking this stand, and supporting women who came for advice and help, many staff suffered abuse and harassment, but this made them even more determined to make this a success. The organisation has received some recognition, and continues to raise issues of concern, and provide practical help women in situations of domestic violence.
Refugee Women’s Resource Project - RWRP provides free legal advice and representation to women asylum seekers and refuges. It is also a campaigning organisation that ensures women’s issues and a feminist agenda are addressed in refugee organisations/communities. They produces a monthly newsletter ‘Women’s Asylum News’ and have just opened the first women’s resource room for refugee women. RWRP campaign for the right to stay for individual women, but also provide comprehensive reports that outline the situation for women in particular countries; these are used by solicitors representing women and play a vital role in protection. The organisation has just produced ‘Safe for Whom? Women’s Rights Abuses and Protection in “Safe Countries”, Albania, Jamaica, and Ukraine’.