Women's Aid: 1970s

1974
• Women’s Aid was first established as the National Women’s Aid Federation, when nearly 40 independent refuge services across the country were brought together to create a national domestic violence network. For the first time, there was a national body to co-ordinate the campaign for new laws and policies and to improve support for women and children experiencing domestic abuse, as well as allowing those women and children to travel to a place of safety.
• The first Women’s Aid National Conference was held in London in April.

1975
• The second Women’s Aid National Conference was held in Leeds in February, where a decision was officially made to formalise the National Women’s Aid Federation.
• The total number of refuge services under the National Women’s Aid Federation doubled, to more than 80.

1976
• Scottish Women’s Aid became a separate Federation.
• Women’s Aid helped to introduce the first domestic violence bill: the Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act 1976. The Act enabled married or cohabiting women to obtain an injunction without the need for a divorce or separation proceedings and made it possible for a court to order a man from the shared home, whether or not he owned it or held the tenancy in his name.

1977
• Through concerted lobbying, Women’s Aid helped to bring about the Housing Act 1977, which acknowledged women and children at risk of domestic violence as ‘homeless’ in order to gain the right to state help with temporary accommodation. 
• A Women’s Aid ‘Week of Action’ commenced in September, ending with a large march in Birmingham on 24 September to protest the lack of council-funded refuge services in the city.

1978 
• Women’s Aid Federation of England, Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland and Welsh Women’s Aid became separate Federations, in response to the steady growth of refuges and in order to encourage regional development and support. 
• Women’s Aid carried out their first piece of research, ‘Leaving Violent Men’, an influential study of 1,000 women living in refuges, which paved the way for further significant research over the years into issues around domestic violence.

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