We are
Women’s Platform
Women’s Platform connects the women’s sector in Northern Ireland to international networks and human rights mechanisms. Our role is to amplify the voices of women and girls in Northern Ireland at the international level, including at the UN. Locally, we build capacity on international human rights standards to help women and girls in Northern Ireland achieve equality, diversity and full participation in decision making.
Our PurposeIt's our story and yours
Women’s Platform is a feminist membership organisation working to achieve gender equality for women and girls in Northern Ireland and make their voices heard in Northern Ireland heard at national and international level.
Our vision is of a Northern Ireland where women and girls, in all our diversity, can live our lives as we choose, in safety and with dignity, free from misogynistic and patriarchal pressures and stereotypes, and supported by policies that meet our needs.
Read moreAnnual report 2024 published
We are delighted to share our annual report 2024, which highlights an active and positive year focused on capacity building, advocacy and delivering opportunities for women and girls to engage with policy and decision making.
The year focused on strengthening capacity building and enhancing access to good practice from elsewhere, which included a series of webinars on issues from gender budgeting to the Scottish child payment. There was a heavy focus on advocacy and engagement with consultation processes following return of the institutions in February 2024, and Women’s Platform was delighted to see the new Ending Violence against Women and Girls strategy firmly rooted in international human rights standards.
Women, peace and security remained a key priority, with development of the NI Assembly All Party Group on UN Security Council Resolution 1325, Women, Peace and Security a key focus. The Women’s Spaces project, which is a consortium project with NI Rural Women’s Network, Women’s Resource and Development Agency and Women’s Support Network, was very active with significant activity in both capacity building and developing a toolkit as the main deliverable of the project. The project in its second year engaged over 200 women through workshops and events, and expanded training to exploring participation in policy and decision making, while focusing on a toolkit highlighting good practice for engaging grassroots women, as a key deliverable of the project.
Finally, participation in CSW68 in March 2024 was a key highlight of the year, which provided new understanding of international networks and UN level working, while also enabling delegates to gather significant new evidence, learning, good practice and relationships. This has informed work throughout the year, and developing international networking will be a priority in 2025.