We make the effort to invite and welcome all women into our community.
We recognise, respect and celebrate our differences and do what we can to make sure everyone has equal opportunities to progress and succeed.
We believe that abuse is connected to inequality.
For us to end violence against women and girls, we need to understand and respond to the ways some women experience different barriers in accessing their rights and opportunities.
As an organisation we try to understand and respond to inequality by looking at how we can keep practicing equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.
We have a group which meets every six weeks and includes managers, trustees, staff and volunteers. The group also includes two of the DIVAS group members who tell us how to make sure we are communicating in an open and accessible way.
Together we came up with our own ideas about what Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging means to us as an organisation:
Some people may need extra help to get the same chances, based on their differences. To do this we need to have a good understanding of each woman's needs and the barriers she may be facing.
We want to try and make sure everybody has the same chances to achieve what they want or need when coming to The Women’s Centre Cornwall. To do this we may have to treat people differently to meet their individual needs.
Equity ensures that everyone has equal opportunities to progress and succeed, and it prevents individuals/certain groups from being discriminated against based on their differences.
As people we have lots of differences. It can be disempowering to feel as though you are different from everyone else. This can leave people feeling excluded, isolated and that their voices are not heard.
A diverse organisation is one with people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. It also means we have different ideas and opinions. This is essential and enriches the way we work and the services we provide. We celebrate our differences.
Diversity is recognising, respecting and celebrating each other's differences.
Some people feel as though they are not actively included or invited into all organisations and services.
We want to make sure all women feel not only included, but welcome. To do this, we must think about every part of our organisation including our language (the way we talk about things), our policies (written information), our training, our culture (our way of life) and our working practices (agreed way we do things).
We must make sure that all of our services are accessible, and changes are made to meet individual needs.
Inclusion is about making an active and positive effort to have an open hand and welcome everyone.
Women who are living with the impact of abuse, and any women living in a patriarchal society can sometimes feel as though they don't belong.
At The Women's Centre Cornwall, we want to create respite from what can sometimes feel like an unsafe world. Belonging is when you can feel safe and comfortable within a group of women. This means every woman will be able to be themselves and share their feelings knowing that it is safe to do so.
Belonging is about women feeling safe and empowered. By creating a sense of belonging, women will know that they have a purpose, they are valued and their voices matter.
One of the members of the DIVAS said this about ‘belonging’ -
Fitting in, feeling happy, safe, heard, there for each other, able to say what I am feeling, listening to each other, understanding each other.
At The Women’s Centre Cornwall, we firmly believe in and stand for an intersectional approach, which is essential to an understanding of, and commitment to, inclusivity and anti-racist practice within the Violence Against Women And Girls sector and beyond.
We recognise that Black and minoritized women have, and continue to be, harmed by white supremacist systems and ideologies, and that we have a responsibility to play our role in challenging and dismantling these structures.
As an organisation, we are signed to the VAWG Anti-Racism Charter, launched in 2021 by the VAWG Sector Anti-Racism Working Group, which had been set up following a Call to Action to end racism in the VAWG sector in 2020.
We have spoken out and lobbied against racism and have carried out recent events to raise awareness in Cornwall, including co-hosting a discussion panel event in 2023 with Black Voices Cornwall; ‘The Othered Woman’. The same year, we curated an exhibition alongside Black Voices Cornwall and The Olive Project titled ’13 British Women’, celebrating the achievements of Black British women throughout herstory.
We acknowledge that there is always much more work to be done in this capacity and that sustained action is vital. We will continue to actively seek to support the robust challenge against race-based discrimination and racist violence.
In 2022, we commissioned an Anti-Racism report produced by Huda Jawad and Thien Trang Nguyen Phan. The intention of this report was to improve our services for and representation of Black and minoritized women. We received several recommendations from the Anti-Racism report and are continuing to learn, grow and expand upon our anti-oppressive practice at every level of our organisation.
“In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” - Angela Y. Davis
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