Is it Really Just the Cuts? Neo-Liberal Tales from the Women's Voluntary and Community Sector in London

Bibliographic Data

ID3945552
AuthorsElena Vacchelli (0000-0002-6823-2647), Preeti Kathrecha, Natalie Gyte
Year2015
Volume109
Issue1
Pages180-189
Publication date2015-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-7789 • E-ISSN: 1466-4380
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/fr.2014.38
OpenAlexW2051271530
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited5

This article analyses the ways in which recent neo-liberal changes in service provision together with much reduced budgets due to austerity policies have affected women’s voluntary and community organisations in London. These organisations provide crucial resources to vulnerable women who are victims of domestic abuse, trafficking, honour-based violence, and so on, and are a primary example of women seeking support at the grassroots level. While there is a rich literature on the negative impact of public sector cuts on gender equality in as much as they affect women as workers, with a particular emphasis on increasing female poverty (Fawcett, 2013; Women's Budget Group, 2013), less is known about the effects of the coalition government’s cuts on women’s grassroots organisations. We do know, however, that cuts to public spending have deeply destabilised, and in some cases decimated, women’s organisations, with negative impacts on women’s sexual health, and the prevention of domestic abuse and forced marriage, among other indicators of female well-being (Hirst and Rinne, 2012; Women's Budget Group, 2013). Yet little attention has been paid so far to what we might term ‘the resilience strategies’ of women’s organisations. This article aims to bridge this gap by critically examining what kind of coping strategies women’s organisations are developing

Feminism · Human sexuality · Liberalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Voluntary association · Voluntary sector · Anthropology · Cultural Studies · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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