Eaves Housing for Women (Eaves) is a feminist charitable company based in London. It provides support to vulnerable women, including female victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking or domestic servitude, and campaigns against prostitution.[1] The organisation also conducts research and lobbying.[2]
Eaves is the umbrella organisation for four projects: "Eaves Women's Aid", "The POPPY Project" and "The Lilith Project" and "POPPY Research and Development".[3]
| Tax ID No. | Registered company no 1322750 |
|---|---|
| Registration No. | Charity number 275048 |
| Founded | 1977 |
| Location | Unit 2.03 Canterbury Court, 1-3 Brixton Road, London |
| Origins | Founded as Homeless Action and Accommodation |
| Area served | England and Wales |
| Focus | Sex Trafficking, abolition of prostitution, domestic violence, Women |
| Method | Accommodation, research, lobbying |
| Revenue | £5,382,778 |
| Volunteers | 37 |
| Employees | 80 |
| Website | eaves4women.co.uk |
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Eaves was founded in 1977 as "Homeless Action and Accommodation".[4]
Eaves has three main objectives. Firstly it seeks to provide accommodation, support and advice to women victims of domestic violence, or who are trafficked into prostitution or domestic servitude. Secondly, the charitable company engages in lobbying and responding to relevant government papers. Finally it conducts research in areas including prostitution, trafficking and domestic violence. In the longer term the aim of the organisation "is to be recognised as one of the leading agencies on violence against women issues in the country".[5]
In 2003 Eaves received government funding for a service to assist women trafficked for sex and domestic servitude, it was called the POPPY Project and based in London. It was the only UK Government-funded dedicated service for trafficked women. The POPPY Project provides accommodation and support services such as legal advice for the women it houses, and also outreach services for others. In it's first six years it housed 215 women and helped a further 208.[6] The project states it is committed to ending all prostitution on the grounds that it "helps to construct and maintain gender inequality".[7]
In April 2011 it was announced that Eaves had lost its central government funding for the POPPY project, with the contract for helping victims of trafficking going to the Salvation Army instead. The reason given by government for the change of service provider was that the Salvation Army was able to offer "victims a more diverse range of services".[8] Former Labour Party MP Vera Baird criticised the decision suggesting women would not seek help from "uniformed male Christians".[9]
Eaves' subsidiary Lilith Research and Development campaigns to stop violence against women, studying issues such a lap dancing. A 2003 study of lap dancing and striptease in the London borough of Camden by the organisation linked the opening of new lap dancing venues with an increase in reported rapes and stated reported rapes near to lap dancing venues were three times the national average.[10] The study and it's conclusions were widely quoted by opponents of lap dancing venues. Other researchers including Dr Brooke Magnanti asserted that the Lilith study was “flawed” and Magnati published a study that concluded there is no “causal relationship” between such venues and an increase in sex attacks. Her study also concluded that the original assertion that rape figures doubled in Camden following the introduction of strip clubs is based on a misunderstanding of Metropolitan Police data, and that there is “no conclusive evidence for the widely held assumption that endemic exposure to adult images and entertainment makes rape more likely to occur”.[11]
Eaves Housing for Women receives the majority of its funding from the taxpayer, in particular the Home Office.[5] In 2010 it had an income of over £5 million.[2]