Women’s and children’s rights through the decades – marking The Haven’s 50th year…
Last month, we launched our jubilee logo by sharing our journey from an idea to a legacy. We took a look back through the decades to reveal landmark moments for women, and children’s rights, from the 1970s to the present day.
Just in case you missed the week-long campaign, here in one post you can find all the information we shared. Opening a new door… to safety, to support in an environment of dignity and respect, to new opportunities!
Before we begin our journey down memory lane, did you know that the standard female sign which has become a crucial part of our logo was first used in 1751 by a botanist to identify flowers as female i.e. pistil only with no stamen?
So why the specific use of this symbol alongside an open door? Read on to find out more…
1970s
We begin our journey through 50 years of providing support with the idea which was conceived in the 70s. The Haven was founded in 1973 after Colin Brown, of Wolverhampton Probation and Parole Services, delivered a talk to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. In this talk, he highlighted that Wolverhampton provided accommodation for homeless men, but not homeless women. Hence the female sign with the open door came to be our first-ever logo! At the end of the talk, the group donated £5.00 and encouraged him to do something about it!
At the time, The Women’s Liberation Movement was making waves across the country, demanding a range of rights for women, including free contraception. It was also in this decade that The Equal Pay Act was introduced, aiming to provide ‘the right to equal pay for equal work.
1980s
Our journey continues with the eighties. This was the decade in which the United Kingdom signed the ‘international bill of rights’ for women and female genital mutilation (FGM) became outlawed here. But so much more was still needed to help put a stop to abuse and violence against women and girls, both in the UK and around the world. UNICEF states that at least 200 million girls and women alive today living in 31 countries have been subjected to FGM.
At The Haven we now offer a range of specialised Domestic Abuse training including training on FGM that can help you:
Increase your knowledge and awareness of FGM.
Learn information on the FGM Act 2003, the Serious Crime Act 2015.
Learn about FGM Protection Orders, mandatory reporting, and best practice guidance to respond appropriately.
To find out more about our FGM training click here.
1990s
We continue through the nineties; the decade that brought us the T.V series Friends, the Tamagotchi craze, and the Macarena. Also the decade in which the British Boxing Board of Control ruled that PMS made women too unstable to box, and the first 20 Football Centres of Excellence for girls are established… in the same year!
Shockingly, rape in marriage was not illegal until 1992! Before this time, forced sexual acts were completely legal in marriage. In 2018, the organisation End Violence Against Women (EVAW) carried out a YouGov survey around attitudes to rape. They found that a third (33%) of people in Britain think it isn’t usually considered rape if a woman is pressured into having sex, when there is no physical violence.
2000s
And now for the noughties… You might be surprised to find out that the ‘Me Too’ movement started way before it gathered momentum across the globe. Originally posted on MySpace in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke, she was shocked when actor Alyssa Milano tweeted in 2017, ‘If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted, write me too’.
In the following weeks, the hashtag #metoo was used over 12 million times, demonstrating how prevalent and widespread sexual abuse is across the globe.
2010s
We’ve come a long way since The Haven was founded in 1973, with £5 and a vision for better lives for women and children.
We’ve seen:
landmark laws introduced,
brave women tackling years of ‘normalised’ sexism and discrimination,
and the world, rightly, forced to listen to the millions of stories that previously went untold.
But in 2020, around the world, a woman or girl was killed by someone in their family every 11 minutes. Every 4 days, a woman is killed by a partner or former partner in the UK. Around 3.1 million adults between 18 and 74 were victims of sexual abuse before the age of 16.
Yes, we have come a long way, but the support we provide at The Haven is still needed. Even if it takes us another 50 years, we will continue to center the women and children who seek our support, with our holistic person-centered approach to excellent services that empower them to rebuild their confidence and develop their independence.
Thanks to local creative design agency TPSquared, we were able to update our logo to commemorate 50 years of support!
Our 50th anniversary marks half a century of support for women and girls who are vulnerable to domestic abuse or homelessness. We remain committed to our vision of a world that is free from oppression, homelessness, violence, and abuse for all women and children. But we also need to ensure that this support can continue for as long as it is needed into the next 50 years, and beyond.
So, as we reveal the logo that we will be using in our jubilee year, we invite you to gift a voice to women and children whose lives have been forever changed by domestic abuse and violence by making a donation. Your donations will enable our vital wrap around services to be
the comfort and support of vulnerable women and children who need to be free from the constant fear of abuse.
Visit here to make a donation and look out for more information on our jubilee year coming soon.
