When Women Thrive, Children Do Better: Reflections from our Learning Circle on Gendered and Child Poverty
October 30, 2025On 21 October, we convened our third Learning Circle in partnership with Buttle UK and the Early Education and Childcare Coalition to explore the theme “Women’s resilience, thriving children: How can a gender lens deepen the response to child poverty?”
We began the day by grounding ourselves in a shared understanding that tackling child poverty requires us to look closely at how women’s experiences shape children’s outcomes. The opening panel, led by Sarah Ronan from the Early Education and Childcare Coalition and featuring Neil Leitch from the Early Years Alliance, Kamna Muralidharan from Buttle UK, and Yasmin Khan from the HALO Project, set out the evidence showing the deep connections between women’s financial resilience and child poverty, and how the absence of a gender lens continues to limit the impact of policy and practice.
This was followed by a powerful conversation facilitated by Rutendo Ngwena from the Smallwood Trust, with contributions from Chelsea Semou, Jane Williams from the Magpie Project and a family support worker. They shared first-hand accounts of the realities faced by mothers experiencing financial hardship, domestic abuse, homelessness, and insecure work, and how these struggles shape the lives of their children. The discussion also surfaced the experiences of young people growing up in homes where poverty and instability are part of everyday life, offering valuable perspectives on resilience, aspiration, and systemic barriers.
Having listened and reflected, we then began engaging in discussions through our collaborative learning tables, which dug deeper into how the causes of gendered poverty affect women and families in specific ways. Conversations explored the impact of violence against women and girls on children, the two-child benefit cap on larger families, the compounding effects of disability, and how race and immigration status intersect to shape both women’s and children’s outcomes. Participants also examined how the care burden limits mothers’ access to paid work and, in turn, influences children’s long-term economic futures.
Having discussed these themes collaboratively, it was then time for some peer learning through breakout sessions. Advocacy and frontline organisations explored how language and framing can influence policy change and why cross-sector collaboration is essential to move beyond siloed approaches that separate women’s needs from children’s. Funders reflected on how to apply a gender lens to their child poverty work, considering how funding strategies can better recognise women’s economic realities.
Throughout the day, a shared recognition emerged that poverty is gendered because society continues to undervalue women’s work and care. As one participant put it, “If you’re working to end child poverty, you’re working on gender and poverty, whether you realise it or not.” The discussions were emotional, sometimes challenging, but always anchored in a collective determination to act.
By the close of the day, we agreed that a strong shared narrative is crucial to how we take this work forward. We reflected on how best to develop that narrative to amplify the data that already exists and to drive practical solutions. Attendees committed to one change they could implement from the day’s learning.
This Learning Circle reminded us that progress happens through relationships, through building trust, learning together and creating space for shared insight.
Our sincere thanks to Anj Handa (Inspiring Women Changemakers) for facilitating the day, and to our partners Buttle UK and the Early Education and Childcare Coalition for co-hosting with us.
Attending organisations
Thank you to representatives from the following organisations who joined us: 4in10, Action for Children, Agenda Alliance, BBC Children in Need, Buttle UK, Cabinet Office, Early Childhood Funders, Early Education and Childcare Coalition, Early Years Alliance, Family Fund, Fawcett Society, Gingerbread, Global Child and Maternal Health, HALO Project, Henry Smith Charity, Latin American Disabled People’s Project, Little Village and Baby Bank Alliance, Local Government Association, Magpie Project, Maternity Action, National Children’s Bureau, National Lottery Community Fund, Pregnant Then Screwed, Save the Children, Smallwood Trust, Traveller Movement, Trust for London, UNISON, and Women’s Budget Group.
You can read below what others who took part in the Learning Circle had to say about the day’s discussions and insights:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7386798752692330497
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7388875740848525312
