ABOUT MANCHESTER WOMEN'S AID
Although domestic abuse can happen to anyone regardless of gender, sexuality and from any walk of life, women are more likely to experience domestic abuse.
The statistics are staggering with 1 in 4 women currently experiencing domestic abuse in the UK.
Domestic abuse is not just confined to violence or sexual abuse but can involve emotional abuse, coercive control, stalking, economic abuse, digital abuse, and many other forms of abuse which can overlap.
Manchester Women’s Aid, part of The Pankhurst Trust, exists to offer clients the confidential help they need and to provide a holistic, safety-first approach, where the prospect of a life free from abuse is possible.
OUR HISTORY
50 YEARS AGO...
In 1972, the workers at the Women’s Centre on Upper Brook Street saw the need for an organisation that specifically advocated and supported women across Manchester.
They created a helpline where women could ring and receive advice, share resources and be offered a sympathetic listening ear about anything that was impacting them.
They soon realised that what they really needed was a physical space. A safe place where women could come together in person to be supported. A refuge from their reality. They found out about a property that had been vacant for years and took action.
THE FOUNDATION
Angela Cooper, Luchia Fitzgerald, Kath Caulfield and Fran Brody squatted the property and began spreading the word of their activism. The public supported their cause and within two weeks someone came forward to purchase the property for them.
This was the foundation of Manchester Women’s Aid (MWA) - the second ever refuge in the country and the first outside of London. It would take two more years for the local authority to formally recognise the refuge. That was in 1974, and 50 years later, we still use this property to this day to provide a home to women who have fled domestic violence.
We’ve expanded since then, and now have six refuges, a dispersed property and many community services.
Our specialist domestic abuse services focus on increasing the safety, health, wellbeing and confidence of survivors and include:
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Refuge accommodation
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A wide range of specialist services delivered in health settings such as doctors’ surgeries and hospitals.
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Specialist groupwork and mentoring services supporting the recovery and empowerment of survivors and families.
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Service to support rough sleepers who are also experiencing domestic abuse.
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Service supporting those with experience of child-removal.
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Service supporting the female family members of loved ones with experience of sexual abuse.
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A behaviour change programme for men who are using harmful and abusive behaviours within relationships at a medium to low level risk.
Discover more about who we are
Our Working Together Group
The history of our building
How we run our charity
Support us
Please donate here
CONTACT US
Manchester Women’s Aid's head office is situated at The Pankhurst Museum, the iconic building where Emmeline Pankhurst lived and started the suffragette movement.
Our address is
60-62 Nelson Street, Manchester, M13 9WP
For general enquiries about Manchester Women’s Aid, you can email
or call 0161 820 8414
If you’d like to visit the museum, you can find more information here.
Both Manchester Women’s Aid and The Pankhurst Museum are part of the umbrella charity, The Pankhurst Trust.
