NWCI welcomes 5 new group members - that’s 21 new groups for 2017
Published: Wednesday, December 13, 2017
It’s the end of the year and this December NWCI welcomes 5 new group members – bringing the total of new group members in 2017 to 21! This month’s groups come from the Community Sector, Women in the Workplace, The Arts and Older Women. Welcome to Age Action, The Complex Theatre, Dublin North West Area Partnership, Dress for Success and Atheist Ireland.
The Complex Theatre is run by creative artists in a new Northside arts centre near Smithfield at Little Green Street, next to the old Fruit and Vegetable Market. Since February 2009 it has staged a rich programme of artistic and cultural productions, exhibitions and events. The arts centre features nine artist’s studios as well as two performance areas, rehearsal and exhibition space. The Complex Theatre complements the regeneration of the Markets quarter, attracting people from the locality and beyond to this historically rich and significant area of Dublin’s Inner City. Their focus is on powerful work with social value, presented through an exciting innovative programme of original theatre, inspiring visual arts, music, comedy, dance and circus. NWCI group members have teamed up with The Complex Theatre on its ’Women in Debt’ series of drama workshops which will culminate in an event in Abbey in 2018. Visit their website here.
Age Action is the national advocacy organisation on ageing and older people and promotes positive ageing and better policies and services for older people. Age Action is committed to women’s equality. Working with and behalf of women, they are also a voice for older women who can be doubly marginalised because of their gender and their age. Throughout 2017, Age action and NWCI successfully campaigned together to address systemic discrimination in how women are treated in the pension system and for backdating the homemaker’s credit. This issue is now firmly on the national agenda and measures are being looked at to rectify this. Check out their website.
Dublin North West Area Partnership (DNWP) uses community development approaches to build the capacity of local community groups (LCGs) and to promote access for marginalised groups to personal-development, training, education and employment/self-employment opportunities for individuals. DNWP adopt a programme of work aimed at promoting gender equality and providing support to disadvantaged women as a named target group. Learn more about them here.
Dress For Success (DFS) supports the economic independence of women by providing free career development tools such as professional clothing and career advice to those caught in the unemployment trap. They also campaign to end the Gender Pay Gap which NWCI are looking forward to working with them on in 2018. DFS work with women of all ages who have fallen out of working life due to a number of factors, including long-term unemployment, bringing up children at home or going through a life-changing event such as a divorce. Women are invited to visit the Dress for Success office in Dublin through referrals from agencies, including local employment services, jobs clubs, community groups and other NGOs, where they meet experienced volunteers for one-to-one style sessions, interview preparation; Sector-specific educational workshops; and Mentoring programmes. Visit their website to discover more.
Atheist Ireland is an Irish advocacy group that promote an ethical, secular society where the State does not support, finance or give special treatment to any religion. Atheist Ireland believes that religious based laws and structures discriminate against women in particular and the rights of women are better respected by promoting secularism. In March 2017, Atheist Ireland as part of the NWCI Delegation made a submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the CEDAW Committee) in Geneva over the prevalence of religious sexual and reproductive health education if any in school curriculum. Visit their website, or find them on Twitter and Facebook.