Inviso Img

Here's What You Can Do To Help Disadvantaged Women In Ireland

December can be a difficult time of year for so many.
Kate Demolder
18 December 2019

Show your love for women in the kindest way you can.

The festive season is a great time to celebrate all womenkind; those who've come before us and will come after.

It's also a time to check your privilege – and to figure out how you could give back to the disadvantaged women the public eye doesn't even notice every day. 

Consider donating your time or money towards some of these very worthy causes. 

Empower The Family 

Teen-mum turned chartered accountant Deborah Somorin wants to change the narrative on single parents who want to return to education. 

Somorin – keen to give access to education to all – found Empower The Family (formerly The Hope Ireland Project) with the aim of empowering parents from disadvantaged areas with the key of education, so they can unlock barriers and prosper.

Every disadvantaged single mother that applies to the new scheme and gets a place will have a two-bedroom apartment and access to a créche downstairs.

To find out more – or potentially donate – check out their website here. 

Donate sanitary products to Homeless Period Ireland

Period poverty is the silent struggle that affects everyone who menstruates around the world every month. A lack of access to sanitary products makes attending school or work difficult and sometimes infeasible for those who menstruate.

Homeless Period Ireland (HPI) is a charity with the sole aim of providing sanitary products – they don't accept money – for those who struggle to do so themselves. They have a number of year-round drop-off points in UCD in the form of purple boxes dotted around campus. 

Other drop-off points include Tropical Popical, several pharmacies and Students’ Unions throughout the country. They suggest that whenever we buy period products for ourselves, we pick up a second pack for someone who can’t afford it.

Transgender Equality Network Ireland

TENI does trojan work for the trans community in Ireland, including the provision of over 170 training sessions each year, educating almost 7,000 people on topics such as health and wellbeing, employment and education.

In 2018, they answered 2,512 calls from people in the Irish trans community looking for information, general support, family support and mental health resources among others. 

They provide safe spaces for those curious about their identity to come to them and discover what it is to feel like your true whole self. 

If you're keen to learn more, donate to or discover the truth about what it feels like to be born into a body you don't resonate with – find out more here.  

Irish Family Planning Association

The Irish Family Planning Association provides sexual and reproductive health information, crisis pregnancy counselling, clinical services, education and training. Through education programmes, clinics and information, they enable people to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health and to understand their rights.

In 1991 they were one of the first organisations in Ireland to provide contraceptives – and eventually were fined for doing so – and have been providing comprehensive no-judgement care ever since.

To donate your time, money or become a member – click here. 

#OnThisDay in 1992: The Supreme Court ruled in Attorney General v X that a 14-year-old girl, known as X, pregnant as a...

Publiée par Irish Family Planning Association sur Mardi 5 mars 2019

Women's Aid

Women's Aid is a leading national organisation that has been working in Ireland to stop domestic violence against women and children since 1974.

Their 24 Hour National Freephone Helpline is often the first point of contact in what becomes a comprehensive support situation that can include: safety planning with a woman and her children; support for court hearings, information on community welfare, housing and social work support; managing maintenance, and other domestic violence legal issues.

To support every woman affected by domestic violence in Ireland click here. 

Main image by @shallowgravesny

READ MORE: The Four Reasons Royal Insiders Believe Meghan Markle Is Pregnant

READ MORE: Irish Tatler's 10 Most Inspiring Female Trailblazers Ahead Of IWD

Related: feminism