The Fawcett Society traces its roots back to 1866, when Millicent Fawcett began her campaign for women’s votes. Today, Fawcett is the UK’s leading campaign for equality between women and men. Our unrivalled pedigree of 140 years of campaigning makes us the most authoritative, independent advocate of women’s rights in the UK.

Our vision is of a society in which women and men enjoy equality at work, at home and in public life. We campaign to stop the violation, abuse and neglect of women’s rights and address the causes of the inequality gap, rather than relieving its symptoms. Our campaigns are aimed at closing the gaps between women and men’s access to power, money and justice. This includes increasing the number of women in the ranks of decision-makers, closing the gender pay gap, making sure women aren’t penalised in the workplace for their caring responsibilities, and working to improve the treatment of women as victims, offenders and employees within the criminal justice system.

We make real differences in women’s lives by creating awareness, leading debate and driving change. We count many changes in legislation among our achievements. Our long history and reputation for authoritative research means that we are trusted and credible and our independence
from any political party means we maintain a radical voice.

Fawcett’s groundbreaking new campaign, Seeing Double, aims to combat the ‘double invisibility’ of ethnic minority women by revealing how race and gender disadvantage interact in the lives of different groups of women. For ethnic minority women, gender inequalities are complicated by inequalities they face on the basis of race and ethnicity. While not at all an homogeneous group, it is clear that ethnic minority women share experiences of discrimination and disadvantage.

Our new project will gather evidence about the specific experience of ethnic minority women, create alliances among ethnic minority women’s organisations, and build up pressure for changes in policy and practice that deliver real improvements to ethnic minority women’s lives.

We will soon be releasing new research on ethnic minority women’s access to power. Examining what strategies women have used to navigate to senior positions in the public, private and voluntary sectors, Routes to Power will reveal the barriers ethnic minority women face and ways that we can challenge them. We will be campaigning to make sure the Government takes on board the research’s recommendations on how to overcome the severe under-representation of ethnic minority women in positions of power.

Be part of our campaign! As a campaigning charity, we are always in need of financial support and you can give this by joining or donating to Fawcett. Other practical support on campaigns can be found in this magazine or on our website, www.fawcettsociety.org.uk

For more information about any of our work, or to discuss possible partnerships please call 020 7253 2598 or email info@fawcettsociety.org.uk