‘Your story matters’ says Women's Charity at YWCA Listening Project Launch
South Yorkshire women’s charity joins regional leaders, friends and supporters today (3 March 2025) to officially launch a poetry series co-produced by Rachel Bower and the women of YWCA Yorkshire.
The launch was hosted in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour at Sheffield Town Hall and attended by The Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Cllr Jayne Dunn, The Mayor of Rotherham, Cllr Sheila Cowen and the Civic Mayor of Doncaster, Cllr Julie Grace, as well as supporters of the YWCA Listening Project and the women of YWCA Yorkshire including Airmaster's MD Lisa Pogson.
The YWCA Listening Project ran throughout 2024, collecting hundreds of lived experiences from women through workshops, one-to-one conversations and anonymous letters.
These stories were crafted into a series of ten linked poems by poet, author, and women’s advocate Rachel Bower; ‘Look how far you have come.’ The poetry series is being released ahead of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2025, to raise awareness of the challenges faced by women and to signpost support.
Whilst the YWCA Listening Project listened to the voices of women in South Yorkshire, the message to all women everywhere is that ‘your story matters’.
The poems describe the journeys, successes, friendships and hopes for the future as told by young women supported by YWCA Yorkshire. Themes explored throughout the YWCA Listening Project include homelessness, domestic abuse, financial hardship, trauma, parenting, sexual violence, exploitation and relationship breakdowns.
Author, Rachel Bower, said, “It has been an honour to listen to the experiences, feelings and hopes of women in this project. I'm grateful to the women who trusted me with their stories, and I hope the poems do justice to the huge range of experiences the women shared.
Projects like this are important as everyone has a story to tell, but sometimes people feel that they haven’t ever really been listened to before. It can be transformational when people are offered the chance to connect with other people and explore their experiences in creative ways.”
Today’s launch marks the first in a series of regional International Women’s Day events that will see the charity share learning and stories from the YWCA Listening Project. Supporters from the business, health, education and charity communities have gifted their platforms and speaker spots, amplifying women’s voices and signposting support across a range of networks.
The YWCA Listening Project will be featured at unLTD Business Expo 5 March, South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Violence Against Women and Girls event 7 March, Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber International Women's Day event 7 March, Voluntary Action Rotherham International Women’s Day event 7 March, South Yorkshire Women’s Network Conference 10 March and an installation hosted by Northern College 12 March.
By joining the broader International Women’s Day conversation, the charity aims to reach more women and support them to speak up and speak out about their experiences. YWCA Yorkshire Chief Exec, Tracy Gollins, explains. “Evolving from one of the oldest women’s organisations in the world, our charity works to empower women to advocate for themselves and each other. By sharing our learning from the YWCA Listening Project, we hope to engage more people to listen to and understand the challenges faced by women and girls. And to signpost the vital support that is available to women through community, charity, and third sector organisations local to them.”
Through a mix of housing and trauma-informed services, YWCA Yorkshire supports 250 women children and families to create better futures in South Yorkshire.
The book of poems ‘Look how far you have come’ was sponsored by Wesco Anixter EMEA’s Women's Impact Network (WIN) business resource group. Joanne Broomhead from WIN, said, “As a women’s network we're proud to be supporting the women of YWCA Yorkshire to tell their stories through poetry. Today we celebrate all women everywhere who lift each other up, empower each other, and advocate for change. We’re thrilled to be part of this movement to support women in telling their often unheard and misunderstood stories, because all women everywhere need to know, their story matters!”
Wesco Anixter represents the international go-to-market brand of Wesco and brings to life the company's mission to build, connect, power and protect the world to its customers and supplier partners in the regions of APAC, CALA and EMEA.
Alongside the publication of the poetry book, YWCA Yorkshire has released a video of the poem ‘Sunflowers’ and is calling on communities to help spread awareness and signpost vital support by sharing this video https://bit.ly/YWCAsunflowers
The spoken word recordings and music production by Hybrid3 were sponsored by Together Housing and the video, produced by LensGo, was sponsored by Roy Hatfield Group.
People can order their own print of ‘Look how far you’ve come’ and donate to YWCA Yorkshire in support of women and girls here: https://bit.ly/YWCApoetrybook