Our History
Leeds Says Stop the Spike with New Campaign
As the festive season approaches, Leeds is launching a new campaign to help tackle the issue of spiking and keep people safe on nights out. The Stop the Spike campaign is providing nightlife venues across the city with training and resources to help staff recognise...
Update on Funding and Current Projects
Women Friendly Leeds Update: This blog update is the first for a period of time, which unfortunately included the sad passing of Emily Turner the Women’s Lives Leeds Project Manager - Women Friendly Leeds. Many of you may be aware Emily had been battling triple...
In Memory of Emily Turner
In Memory of Emily Turner Women Friendly Leeds is deeply saddened that Emily Turner, our Women’s Lives Leeds Project Manager, sadly passed away on the 25th January 2025. Emily had cancer, but as many of you will know she dealt with this in the way we would all expect,...
Women’s Centre Feasibility Study Update
Dear supporters, followers and participants of the Leeds Women’s Centre feasibility study, We thought it may be useful to give you an update following the publication of the feasibility study, conducted by Urban Catalysts (UC) on behalf of the Women & Girls...
Remembering Annette Judah Morris
Annette Judah Morris July 29th 1964 – July 7th 2024 Following the recent passing of our friend, colleague, fellow activist and warrior spirit, Annette, Women Friendly Leeds and the Women & Girls Alliance Leeds would like to take a moment to reflect on...
Help us to save the Women’s Night Safe Space!
Ran by Women Friendly Leeds and the Safer Leeds Partnership, our Women’s Night Safe Space is based in Leeds city centre every Saturday night, providing crucial services and a non-judgemental safe space for women and girls. Due to lack of continuation funding, Women’s...
WalkSafe App Launches!
On Friday 29th September the Safer Leeds partnership launched Leeds specific features on the app, WalkSafe. WalkSafe is a free personal safety app to help people feel and be safe in our city with a range of helpful features. There are nationwide features which allow...
Join us for the launch of WalkSafe Leeds!
On Friday 29th September we'll be holding a street parade to celebrate the launch of Leeds specific features on the WalkSafe app! We've been working in collaboration with the Safer Leeds City Centre partnership to create app features on the WalkSafe app that will help...
Hate Crime Awareness Week Events
In one month's time, Hate Crime Awareness Week is taking place, on 14th-21st October. A launch event for the week in Leeds will be taking place on Friday 13th October. The launch event will be opened by Cllr. Abigail Marshall-Katung and will focus on LGBTQ+ hate....
Women Friendly Leeds Project Evaluators Report
Written by our project evaluators at DMSS this report summarises the achievements and learning experiences of our movement over recent years, exploring examples of our campaigns in different areas, how we've reached different communities and successes and challenges...
Recipes for Life
Recipes for Life is a collection of wisdom from the amazing women that make up Women Friendly Leeds movement. Each recipe tells a unique story and helps to tell the story of the women who contributed them, and the story of Women Friendly Leeds. Our book contains...
West Yorkshire Police Responses to VAWG Community Questions
West Yorkshire Police Respond to VAWG Community QuestionsFollowing on from the Women Friendly Leeds Police Q&A and art exhibition, where we gave Women the platform to speak to power, Detective Superintendent Vanessa Rolfe (WYP) has now responded to the community...
Speak Up! On Women’s Safety
Learn more about our Women’s Safety Q&A with Superintendent Vanessa Rolfe and how we are using art to Speak Up! on safety. See what the West Yorkshire Police are doing to support their new VAWG strategy in Leeds.
Women Friendly Hubs Together Event
On Thursday 28th July Women Friendly Leeds members came together to celebrate our wonderful hubs. At Women Friendly Leeds we have a number of different hubs cater to different women’s issues, such as the culturally diverse women’s hub, the ambassadors and the...
Pride at Leeds
Pride at Leeds Celebrating Our Rights and a Day of Spotting Women Friendly Leeds! This year’s Pride celebration and parade took place on Sunday 7th August for all to attend. Women Friendly Leeds could not attend this year in an official capacity but if you looked...
Women Friendly Recruiters Checklist Launch and Employability Marketplace
Women Friendly Leeds Campaign: Shining a Light on Women’s Inequalities – This is Our Normal Women Friendly Recruiters Checklist Launch and Employability Marketplace On Thursday 3rd June Women’s Lives Leeds in collaboration with the Labyrinth Project and Smartworks...
Book Recommendation – Getaway Girls: 30 Years 30 Stories
Book Recommendation - Getaway Girls: 30 Years 30 Stories For any woman or girl interested in learning more about activism in Leeds through an intersectional lens, look no further than the Getaway Girls library of booklets. Getaway girls, a member of the Women Lives...
WOMEN’S NIGHT SAFE SPACE
WOMEN'S NIGHT SAFE SPACE Women Friendly Leeds is working in partnership with Safer Leeds to create a safe space for women in the centre of Leeds. We will be running a funded pilot to support women who are out at night in Leeds. For the first 3 weekends in March (4th...
Celebrating the End of our Second Year
On Monday 18th October, the Women Friendly Leeds team, joined by partners, supporters and guests, came together to celebrate the end of our second year in action. We celebrated the work we have done together through our campaigns and beyond to make Leeds the first...
Leeds Women’s Safety Survey
The Leeds Women’s Safety Survey was carried out in May 2021 and 1,371 women of all ages, and from all parts of the city, took part. The findings provide a powerful insight into their experience of feeling and being safe in the city. They show that despite heightened...
Ambassadors’ Network Meeting 4 Minutes – 2nd September
Agenda and notes 17:15 – Welcome and Intros. 17:30 – Updates Shining a Light campaign – updates of the 4 strands of the campaign. Employability – Recruitment toolkit has been devised with input from Mindful Employer and WYCA but we will be looking to do consultation...
Introduction to Vocal Girls and their Work on Women Friendly Leeds’ campaigns
Vocal Girls is an essential part of the Women Friendly Leeds movement, which was founded through a UN initiative to make Leeds the first Women Friendly City in the UK. As a Hub, we aim to make Leeds a better city for ALL girls and young women to live in by ensuring...
Ambassadors’ Network Minutes – 8th July
Ambassadors met online on the 8th July to discuss updates to the agenda to make Leeds the first Women Friendly City in the UK. They also shared their feelings, thoughts and ideas around the campaign and general wellbeing issues for women in Leeds. Agenda and notes...
Staff at Leeds Women’s Aid Share Their Ideas on How to Make Leeds a Women Friendly City
At our last team meeting with Leeds Women’s Aid, we asked the team to share their ideas on how Leeds could be a safer, friendlier place for women. We received a whole host of exciting, thoughtful suggestions for women-friendly initiatives, including free transport...
Talking Safety Initiatives in Leeds with Sarah Carroll
Our most recent Friday Hub on June 11th aimed to inform women about existing safety initiatives happening in Leeds. Safety initiatives aim to help us feel safer in our city, as well as materially improving safety, but the effectiveness of such processes partly rely on...
Next Women’s hub Meeting – Tuesday 11th May
Just a reminder that the next Women’s Hub Meeting is on Tuesday 11th May April, 6.00pm – 7.30pm This month we will be focusing on actions against the findings from the last meeting so come with ideas for things we can do. You will also be updated on any progress made...
The 1st Ambassadors’ Network Meeting – 14th April 2021
At this 1st Ambassador Network meeting, we welcomed members and introduced them to the two Women Friendly Leeds campaigns currently running. Ambassadors talked together and set actions and pledges around the different priorities for the campaigns.
Next Women’s Hub Meeting – Tuesday 13th April 6.00pm – 7.30pm
Just a reminder that the next Women's Hub Meeting is on Tuesday 13th April, 6.00pm - 7.30pm It will be an online meeting and the link for the zoom is available through booking your place through the Eventbrite booking system. To book your place click HERE The Notes of...
Women Friendly Leeds Call for Action – Safety Inequalities for Women
Women Friendly Leeds supports and stands with all women and girls who have been affected by the news of Sarah Everard’s murder, or who have themselves experienced any unwelcome attention whether sexual, verbal, physical or online. We know that safety has always been a...
Why we need Intersectional Therapy – Discussion Panel. Monday 29th March 1.00pm-2.30pm
This event that Women's Lives Leeds are kindly hosting, will explore the need for Intersectional Therapy. The panel discussion will explore the importance of understanding intersectionality for ourselves personally but also the urgent need for intersectional therapy....
Women Friendly Leeds LGBTQ+ Panel Discussion Event
Back in 2020 one of the Women’s Hub members approached the Women Friendly Leeds team to ask if we would consider putting on an event to raise the visibility of, and celebrate LGBT+ women in Leeds, and of course we agreed. The Women Friendly Leeds movement is committed...
Leeds Women’s Hub Meeting 9th March agenda and notes from the last meeting
Just a reminder that the next Women's Hub meeting is taking place at 2.00pm on Tuesday 9th March. The notes from the last meeting are attached here: WFL Women Hub notes 9.2.21 WFL Womens hub agenda 9.3.21 To book your place please click on the link below:...
Women’s Wellbeing and Arts Packs – Sept to Dec 2020
A partnership Project with Space2 with funding by Leeds Inspired What's it all about? In June 2020, Women Friendly Leeds conducted a survey that was designed to learn about the views and experiences of women in Leeds about the disproportionate effects of the COVID-19...
Say No To Islamophobia
In our communities, Islamophobia is a daily occurrence for Muslims. We know that Muslim women are disproportionately targeted in Islamophobic attacks but we don't see or hear their voices. From the streets and now to print, Shantona present the stories of British...
Leeds works together to urge women attend for cervical screening
A new campaign in Leeds is urging women not to delay attending for cervical screening during the coronavirus pandemic through the launch of a new safety video. Cancer Wise Leeds, which is funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research and delivered in partnership with Leeds...
#16daysleeds – your views on safety in Leeds
As part of the city-wide partnership for the 16 Days of Action campaign, Women Friendly Leeds have been sharing details of the amazing work done by the Women's Lives Leeds Alliance members to support women and girls in Leeds, as well as asking bite-sized questions...
Women Friendly Leeds First Annual Event
01:02 Opening from Jools Heselwood 06:30 Women Friendly Leeds Update from Emily Turner 19:30 Leeds Women's Hub 25:00 Leeds Black Woman Says 30:00 'Black' by Fabienne 34:45 Break out conversations (unfortunately the actual conversations did not get recorded due to...
Untold Stories of Motherhood
The following is a guest post from @authenticbrowngirl, who is hosting an event in partnership with Women’s Lives Leeds, Parentification – an honest and authentic conversation about ‘ Untold Stories of Motherhood’. Tickets and more information available here. One of...
#leedsblackwomansays
As part of the Women Friendly Leeds commitment to promoting Black voices, we have been sharing quotes from the Black Women of Leeds on our social media accounts. See below for the quotes so far, and keep an eye on our social media as we share more quotes in the future...
Women Friendly Leeds Statement on the Managed Approach
The Women Friendly Leeds movement believes all women and girls have the right to their view and to express it. We know that women and girls have different views and opinions on a range of issues, and we also acknowledge women’s varied life experiences, that shape...
Women Friendly Leeds – COVID-19 Survey
Back in June, Women Friendly Leeds sent out a survey to find out how the women of Leeds had been affected by COVID-19. We had a brilliant response, with nearly 1000 of you sharing your experience. We have read through every single answer and are grateful to every...
Statement on Leeds Libraries Drag Queen Story Hour Event.
Women’s Lives Leeds, the alliance of women’s and girls’ organisations behind Women Friendly Leeds, are disappointed in the reaction to Leeds City Council postponing Drag Queen Story Hour event, especially during pride month - a time when the value of promoting a...
Dear Future You
Inspired by the poetics of a letter featured in The Guardian, graphic designer Helen Barlow Scott has curated this digital exhibition of handwritten letters from mothers to their children during lockdown in Leeds. During the creative and cathartic process of writing...
Online Support and Groupwork, and tips for thriving in difficult times
In these difficult times, we all need to keep our connections with others, and offer and receive support, in a variety of ways. Groupwork in particular, can both offer support and allow those who think they have nothing to offer, play an important role in supporting...
Women Friendly Leeds speaks to Harpy Magazine
“We just want more women to lead safer, healthier, more fulfilled, and equal lives.” Read Harpy's interview with Co-Ordinator Emily here.
The Menopause Cafe
By Emily Turner, VOICES Co-ordinator 04.03.20 I arrived at the menopause café in Bramley not really knowing what to expect. Turning 40 this month, in terms of having a personal experience with menopause, I’m not quite there yet, but I’m acutely aware that this could...
The Effects of COVID-19 for Women
It appears that women seem to be less likely to die from COVID-19 due to sex based immunological or gendered difference, however the effects on them may be greater overall. Women will be more affected in places with more female health workers. One analysis of 104...
Celebrating local women on International Women’s Day 2020
Thursday 5th March 2020 - 10am to 2pm Expect inspiring talks from local women, comedy, freebies and fun activities around activism, upcycling and self-care. This special IWD event has been planned by and for service users within the Women's Lives Leeds partnership....
Leeds to become UK’s First Women Friendly City
After recent speculation and coverage, Women’s Lives Leeds are excited to confirm the upcoming launch of Women Friendly Leeds. Women’s Lives Leeds, a consortium of 11 women’s and girl’s organisations in Leeds, were successful in bidding for funding from Comic Relief...
Leeds Women’s Hub – Next Meeting Sep 25th
At previous meetings Hub members have discussed at great length which areas of their safety are the most important to them. These have been narrowed down, in the first instance to focus on Transport and Leeds City Centre at Night. This hub meeting will focus on the...
The State of Women’s Health Report
Women and Girls Alliance (formerly Women's Lives Leeds) in collaboration with Leeds City Council published a unique report providing a comprehensive picture of life, health and wellbeing for women and girls in Leeds. You can read the report by clicking on the button...
Help to shape the look of Women Friendly Leeds
The Leeds Women’s Hub, which launched just over a year ago to give women living and working in Leeds the opportunity to influence decision-making in the city, has been working on a city-wide project that will promote and celebrate women’s rights and opportunities in...
Help to shape the look of Women Friendly Leeds
The Leeds Women’s Hub, which launched just over a year ago to give women living and working in Leeds the opportunity to influence decision-making in the city, has been working on a city-wide project that will promote and celebrate women’s rights and opportunities in...