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Women's Environmental Network
(WEN) was started to give ordinary women clear information about
environmental problems that affect them specifically – like
consumer goods, pregnancy and pollutants and chemicals in the home.
WEN is one of the few organisations that link women, environment
and health, yet the issues affect everyone. Women’s perspectives
are often overlooked, undermined and undervalued; WEN seeks to redress
this imbalance and demonstrate women’s power as consumers
to make positive choices and take action for a healthier planet.
The first campaign in 1989 was for unbleached
paper: chlorine-bleaching meant exquisitely toxic dioxins (cancer-causing
chemicals) were in effluents and in the products themselves. The
successful campaign centred on sanitary towels and babies’
nappies, but expanded to other products like milk cartons.
WEN’s campaign widened: we began to look at other sources
of dioxins, such as rubbish incineration. We found babies were
receiving potentially damaging amounts of dioxins before birth
and we helped campaigns to restrict incineration. Because dioxins
disrupt hormones, we also looked at oestrogen mimics, leading
to our work on breast cancer prevention. The pesticide lindane,
used on cocoa crops, also disrupts hormones; we published Chocolate
Unwrapped a book that took a holistic view of women, chocolate
and the environment. WEN was the first UK group to campaign to
save ancient Nordic and Canadian forests from being pulped, while
our desire to reduce use of resources such as paper, sparked campaigns
for less packaging and for reusable nappies.
WEN co-organised the first Big Gene gathering and the No Patents
on Life campaign which helped spark the anti-gm movement, raised
the issue of ‘food miles’ - pollution from food transport
– and now coordinates a multi-cultural network of organic
food-growing groups.
WEN’s journey over the last 15 years shows it is possible
to raise awareness and change the way society treats important
environmental and health issues. From the start, WEN has been
founded on a huge amount of voluntary effort and work commitment
which goes beyond that of doing a job. There has been a two-way
relationship with volunteers, members and local groups, who have
often initiated and driven new campaigns. It is this that gives
WEN its strength and I am delighted that today we have vibrant
and growing networks of nappy supporters, food groups and local
WEN groups and contacts.
The founders were all involved in green campaigning
but felt women's concerns were overlooked within the wider green
movement. Bernadette Vallely, Francesca Reynolds and Alison Costello
were the first staff; founder members included Anita Roddick, Peggy
Seeger, Joan Ruddock, Diana Schumacher and Carol Tongue.
In the first WENnews they wrote: "For too long we
have used the soil, air and water as a dustbin for industrial waste,
and have disregarded the warning that global heating caused by air
pollution is disturbing the climate worldwide … the planet
itself is protesting … her voice is growing steadily louder
and more urgent. We cannot afford to leave it to chance, or pretend
that others will do it for us, we must make a personal commitment.”
Now as then, WEN provides a forum for us to speak as women and to
inform and educate from a woman's point of view. |
This history of WEN was written
by Ann Link, Coordinator 1999-2005
© Women’s Environmental Network, May 2004.
First Published in Global Footprints
& Kitten Heels, WEN 15th anniversary brochure. |
