Spotlight: Responding to Women’s Realities in South Tyneside
Over the last 5 years, Smallwood Trust has partnered with Women’s Health in South Tyneside with multiple grants to safeguard frontline services and gain a deeper understanding of the financial hardship women were experiencing across South Tyneside.
In this article we delve deeper into WHiST’s work and how conducting research about women’s experiences has provided significant insights into gendered poverty within the local area and the extent of women’s financial struggles.
WHiST was originally established in 1986 by a group of local women working voluntarily to address gaps in services and support, particularly for women with multiple unmet needs. Like many specialist women’s organisations Smallwood supports, WHiST is a small charity that is deeply embedded within its community. Each week, WHiST sees over 250 women experiencing financial, emotional and/or physical difficulties and offers a safe, women-only space to share experiences and access support around issues such as benefits advice, housing issues, debt and domestic violence.
During the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, WHiST was funded to conduct interviews with women they support about their key concerns. The ‘Hear My Voice’ report shaped future ways of working and contributed to wider efforts to tackle poverty across South Tyneside.
While WHiST has built trusting, empathetic relationships with local women, the stigma that underpins poverty persisted. Reflecting on the ‘Hear My Voice’ research, WHiST’s CEO, Corinne Devine, told us the findings “really opened our eyes to the experiences of the women we work with as previously, due to feelings of guilt and shame, they were not fully telling us how much they were struggling financially.”
This research echoed national understandings of women’s poverty, uncovering that in addition to being in low-paid work or receiving benefits, women were also pushed into poverty due to relationship breakdown, domestic abuse, disproportionate caring responsibilities, long-term health conditions and lone parenting. Importantly, women shared the mental and emotional impacts of this. For example, respondents said they felt “humiliated and ashamed” when applying for health-related benefits, with many others experiencing “guilt, sadness and worry about how they could not afford to give their children as much as they wanted to.”
This research then became hugely valuable in evidencing support that women in South Tyneside needed.
Taking evidence forward
A key recommendation that emerged from WHiST’s research was to have a nominated Financial Wellbeing Champion to signpost women to support. Women spoke of breaking down the “code of silence” that keeps them trapped in poverty, the importance of offering refreshments and travel expenses, and just needing a space to talk about money worries.
In January 2022, WHiST were successful in securing a one year grant from the Women Thrive Fund – jointly delivered by Smallwood and Rosa – to implement these recommendations. WHiST introduced Financial Wellbeing Champions to deliver financial wellbeing courses and regular information sessions with women struggling with the cost-of-living, including fuel and food poverty, debt, benefits and housing issues. WHiST was able to reimburse travel for activities and meetings so women could more easily access services, and women were offered a warm, comfortable space to talk about how they’re doing, and think about what they need. Over one year, 154 women were offered direct financial and/or emotional support and £35,000 of benefit entitlements were secured
Continuation funding for this work was of high importance to meet the ambition shared amongst staff and volunteers, and demand on their services had increased by 45% since 2019. During reporting periods for the Women Thrive Fund, WHiST told us that “our challenges are about to grow, our project capacity needs to grow faster and be sustainable alongside the women we support.”
In 2023, WHiST applied to Smallwood’s Women’s Urgent Support Fund Round 1 – a national funding programme, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund, designed to safeguard frontline services. They were successful in securing a three-year grant to continue their Financial Wellbeing Champion initiative and issue hardship vouchers to meet women’s immediate needs, such as food, baby items and clothing.
WHiST notes that both funding opportunities have sustained practical and lasting interventions and referrals to improve the lives of their members, and enabled the organisation to develop a “strategic and joined up response” based directly on the lived experience and needs of local women.
Finally, WHiST have also been looking toward creating wider change within South Tyneside with their research findings. WHiST is currently working with partners to establish a South Tyneside Poverty Truth Commission and women make up over half the Community Commissioners with lived experiences of poverty. These women will work alongside Civic Commissioners with an aim to further address issues identified within the ‘Hear My Voice’ report with the aim of creating local changes that hold womens voices and experiences at the centre.
If you would like to learn more about WHiST and their work across South Tyneside, please visit their website here.
