For 50 years, we have been at the forefront of shaping law and policy to improve women’s lives, ensuring their voices drive legal change.
Our work has strengthened protections, expanded access to justice, and advanced women’s rights.
Please read on for details of how we have achieved law and policy change over our 50 year herstory, and how we plan to celebrate our impact.
Some of the ways we are celebrating our anniversary include:
- Celebrating our shared history with your testimonials: We want to hear from you about how Rights of Women has touched your life, so please fill out the form below if you’d like to briefly share an experience.
- 50th Anniversary Legal Dinner: On 19th March 2025 we are celebrating with the legal community at Inner Temple Hall, with Barbara Mills, KC, Chair of the Bar providing a keynote speech.
- Reflecting on progress towards women’s access to justice: We are partnering with Slaughter & May LLP, who are generously conducting pro bono legal research, to analyse the progress and challenges in relation to women’s access to justice in England and Wales over the past decade (since our 40th anniversary) with a specific focus on legal advances to address Violence Against Women and Girls. This will include significant cases and policy and law reform work that we have been part of. This important reflection will inform our priorities and recommendations for our future work. We will be releasing a report and interactive timeline towards the end of the year at a launch event and will embed this with thematic events linked to the calls to action.
- London Legal Walk: Our staff and volunteers will be walking the London Legal Walk in June, and welcome all support for our fundraising target.
- Charity Partnership: We are proud to be the charity partner of Sharpe Pritchard LLP throughout our 50th anniversary year and welcome their support of our work.
- Mapping our archives: With the help of two dedicated volunteers we’ve been cataloguing our archives to ensure we keep our rich history alive.
Since 1975, Rights of Women has been at the forefront of shaping law and policy to better protect and empower women. We utilise an evidence-based and collective approach, building on the insights from our frontline advice delivery and partnership work with others to make policy recommendations and campaign for improvements to the law. We have influenced key legislative changes and improved access to justice for women experiencing violence, discrimination, and inequality.
Below are some of the key changes we have contributed to over our 50 year history:
Domestic abuse protections
ROW has a pivotal role in major legal reforms. We:
- Influenced the Family Law Act 1996, introducing non-molestation and occupation orders.
- Helped shape the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, securing a ban on perpetrators being able to directly cross-examine survivors and making it easier for survivors to access special measures for their safety in courts.
- Continues to challenge failures in the family courts that endanger women and children.
- Continues to campaign for laws which help cohabiting women achieve safety and justice when separating from an abusive partner.
We won the Lexis Nexis Family Law Award for the Community Interaction category in December 2021. This was awarded to us as a result of our significant contribution to supporting the community in relation to women survivors across England and Wales.
Improving access to justice
Women’s access to justice has been central to our work across the decades and key to that has been the availability of legal aid. The work has included multiple campaigns, reports and legal challenges up to the highest courts. We:
- Led legal challenges, including a 2016 High Court victory that reduced legal aid barriers for domestic abuse survivors by widening access to the Domestic Violence Legal Aid Gateway.
- Supported the development of the online injunction application system, enabling swift access to legal protection and making it more accessible (2020).
- Helped resist plans to make mediation mandatory for family law cases, a process which can be harmful and unfair in cases of domestic abuse.
Securing rights for lesbian mothers
In the 1980s, lesbian mothers routinely lost custody of their children. ROW co-founded the Lesbian Custody Group (1986), which organised protests and campaigned for lesbian rights across the print media, on television, and to Parliamentarians.
- In 1986 we published the groundbreaking ‘Lesbian Mothers’ Legal Handbook‘ providing strategic legal advice
- Following years of campaigning, case law changed during the late 1980’s recognising lesbian mothers as fit parents
- Prohibition of promotion of homosexuality was repealed (2003)
- The 2004 Civil Partnership Act and the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 created further rights for lesbian couples
Forced Marriage protection
ROW was at the forefront of efforts to criminalise forced marriage:
- In 2005 we jointly drafted a new civil law remedy for forced marriage, playing a key role in shaping the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007
Child contact and family court reform
The family courts should protect children from harm, but too often, abusive men use the system to continue their control. ROW has:
- Campaigned to change the law so that there is a presumption against contact in cases of domestic abuse and child sexual abuse.
- Led calls to improve judicial understanding of coercive control and post-separation abuse, including weaponisation of so-called ‘parental alienation’.
- Coordinated a joint intervention in the landmark 2021 Court of Appeal case Re H-N, contributing to stronger recognition of domestic abuse and controlling and coercive behaviour in child arrangements cases
Employment rights
ROW has successfully campaigned for stronger workplace protections against sexual harassment, culminating in the Worker’s Protection Act 2024.
Immigration and migrant women’s rights
ROW has long jointly advocated for migrant women’s rights, frequently alongside leading specialist ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised women’s organisations, with successful campaigns across multiple issues:
- Access to public funds for migrant women fleeing abuse, allowing them to stay in a refuge (2009-2012).
- Victims of domestic violence permitted to apply for indefinite leave to remain without being required to stay with their abusive partner for a year (1999)
- Broadened permitted forms of evidence for migrant survivors of domestic abuse (2002)
- Secured a change to the law to extend the scope for victims of domestic violence to apply for status under the EUSS (2020)
- Secured changes to the immigration rules around transnational marriage abandonment to enable abandoned women and children to return to the UK and access their rights, rights that abuse had previously deprived them of (2024)
Criminal law advances
Over the years, ROW has led and collaborated on key legal challenges to protect women’s rights in the criminal justice space, including:
- From 1981, ROW campaigned to criminalise marital rape, contributing to the landmark 1991 R v R ruling that abolished the legal exemption.
- Working with a broad alliance of NGO and civil society organisations to challenge the regressive nature of many of the proposals within The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2021. The collective of organisations was later awarded a Sheila McKechnie Foundation Award in 2023 for Best Coalition or Collaboration.
- Working with a coalition of VAWG organisations on an amendment to the Victim and Prisoners Act resulting in a commitment from Government to keep counselling notes of rape victims confidential (2024)
We need your support to continue our vital work. Whether you donate, attend our anniversary events, or spread the word, your help ensures that women can access the legal advice and protection they need. Join us in shaping the next 50 years of justice for women.
Donate to us
For 50 years, Rights of Women has been a lifeline for women facing legal challenges. As we mark this milestone, your donation can help us provide even more free legal advice, training, and advocacy. Every contribution, big or small, strengthens our mission to make the law work for women. Donate today and be part of the change.
Become a monthly donor
We hope to double our monthly donors in celebration of our 50th year to help ensure we are sustainable for the next 50 years
Support our team in the 10k London Legal Walk
- If you are a past or current staff member or volunteer we’d love you to walk with us on 17th June. Please get in touch!
- If you just want to support our team, please consider donating to our fundraising page
Fundraise for us
You can play a crucial role in our future by fundraising for us. Whether you host a charity event, take on a personal challenge, or rally your workplace to support our cause, every pound raised helps us provide life-changing legal advice and advocacy.
Get involved today and help us continue our fight for justice!
As part of our 50th-anniversary celebrations, we’d love to hear from those who have interacted with Rights of Women over the years. Whether you’re a former service user, staff member, volunteer, or member of the public, your story is important to us.
Please share a short testimonial about your experience with Rights of Women using the form below. These stories may be featured on our website, social media and other anniversary materials to celebrate our impact.