Feminist who took on Women’s Aid... to save the job of a man
A FEMINIST charity has quit Scottish Women’s Aid following a row after appointing a man to its board.
Moray Women’s Aid was told it had to adhere to the national organisation’s strict female-only rule and remove the male director.
However, it refused, stating that ‘not all men are abusers’ and insisting that it wants to achieve ‘equality for all’.
The Moray-based organisation has now disaffiliated itself from the umbrella charity and will continue to support victims of domestic abuse independently.
The row erupted after a national training day during which the role of Graham Leadbitter was discussed. The SNP councillor first joined the Moray Women’s Aid board in 2008 and has been listed as a director of the charity ever since. He is also a member of the White Ribbon campaign working to stamp out violence against women.
Shortly after the training day, the directors of Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) wrote to the regional group reminding them of their womenonly policy. It also ‘offered support in order for them to again meet the criteria for affiliation’.
Elle Johnston, services manager for Moray Women’s Aid, responded with a resignation letter. She wrote: ‘It is whether you have the necessary skills and passion that is the most important, not whether or not someone has a beard. We have ten members on our board. All the others are very strong females working alongside men to achieve equality for all. Not all men are abusers. There are good decent men out there and we should be working alongside them to achieve mutual equality and respect.’
SWA provides training and support for dozens of regional groups around the country, while campaigning nationally against
‘Not all men are abusers’
domestic abuse. Although the Moray charity will continue to operate, leaving SWA means it will no longer get formal support from the larger network.
Mrs Johnston continued: ‘We disaffiliated ourselves because we were not prepared to discriminate blatantly. We didn’t take this decision lightly. It was tough but the board completely backed me.’
Last night, Mr Leadbitter said he was pleased the local board is happy for him to stay. Commenting on how he joined, he recalled: ‘They were looking for board members and made an appeal for people to get involved. It was an issue I felt I wanted to help with.’
Mr Leadbitter said it appeared that the national charity had not realised a man was on the board of the Moray group until recently, despite him having played an active role for the past eight years.
‘I have been listed as a director with the company since 2008. There has not been any secret about it.’
He added: ‘To go the whole way of having women-only boards, or on the other hand, men-only boards, neither of those things are, in my opinion, the right way to go.’
Marsha Scott, SWA chief executive, said: ‘We remain committed to and passionate about women-only boards in our national network.’
An SWA spokesman said: ‘Womenonly boards are important... because we recognise that in Scotland historically and currently women are not equal and do not have the same opportunities and experiences as men.
‘We want to challenge inequality at every level... and that means promoting and protecting women’s spaces and places as decisionmakers in the fight to end domestic abuse in Scotland.’