'Women's aid opens doors' badge
Object
Badge
Production date
1974-1979
Object number
2024.104
Physical Description
Metal, circular badge with a yellow background and black text reading 'Women's Aid opens doors'. The illustration depicts a door opening with at its centre a rising fist enclosed in the female symbol ♀. The badge promotes the Women's Aid federation which formed in 1974 to provide refuge and services to women and children experiencing domestic violence.
Object history
Hackney Women’s Aid was started in 1973 by a group of local women to provide the first refuge in Hackney for women fleeing domestic violence.
They were granted the short term use of a series of houses by both the Greater London and Hackney Councils, the first of which was on Rushmore Crescent, Clapton. The buildings required a lot of work to transform them into shelters, and with no grants or formal funding they raised the money needed by holding jumble sales and raffles, and asking for donations.
At first the refuges were run by a handful of volunteers in their spare time alongside full-time jobs. There were some disasters including one building destroyed by fire and the roof collapsing in another, leaving the Borough without any refuge service for months at a time.
Despite setbacks, within the first nine months Hackney Women’s Aid gave refuge to over 50 women and their children. The organisation went on to deliver frontline services to around 2,000 women and girls a year as the charity The Nia Project.
They were granted the short term use of a series of houses by both the Greater London and Hackney Councils, the first of which was on Rushmore Crescent, Clapton. The buildings required a lot of work to transform them into shelters, and with no grants or formal funding they raised the money needed by holding jumble sales and raffles, and asking for donations.
At first the refuges were run by a handful of volunteers in their spare time alongside full-time jobs. There were some disasters including one building destroyed by fire and the roof collapsing in another, leaving the Borough without any refuge service for months at a time.
Despite setbacks, within the first nine months Hackney Women’s Aid gave refuge to over 50 women and their children. The organisation went on to deliver frontline services to around 2,000 women and girls a year as the charity The Nia Project.
Associated Person
Peter Kahn (Owner)
Material
Metal
Plastics
Dimension
Diameter (Front): 4.4cm
On display?
No
Inscription
Women's Aid opens doors