Suchismita Majumdar, Community Development Lead, Our Roehampton

The theme for International Women’s Day 2025 is ‘For ALL women and girls. Rights. Equality. Empowerment.’ While we strive towards a future where everyone enjoys equal rights and opportunities, let’s do some stocktaking and celebrate how women are shaping their local community in Roehampton.

Tucked amongst its affluent neighbours of Wimbledon, Richmond and Putney, the leafy ward of Roehampton is an area where the local community faces considerable challenges in the borough of Wandsworth. The area includes several large social housing estates, with the Alton Estate being the largest in the UK.

Like the rest of London, COVID hit the area hard, and the community realised that social isolation was as much an issue as the pandemic itself.

Siobhan O’Neil, long term resident of the Alton Estate and team member of Our Roehampton says ‘We were all surviving in silos till Covid. I mean there were club rooms and other spaces in Alton for the residents to socialise in, but on the whole people mostly kept to themselves and did their own thing.’

In response to the pandemic, a host of residents, among them many local women came forward to start community outreach and provide services for families including women, children and young people, supported by staff and trustees from Our Roehampton. As a result, there is a wide range of services and activities ranging from women only coffee mornings, physical exercise classes, hot meal distribution, low-cost food hubs, food banks and food recycling initiatives, arts and other DIY classes, health champions, green initiatives, cafes and social spaces for older people.

Many of these initiatives are women led, and while some quit their regular jobs and organised themselves into charities, others juggle day jobs and family commitments while delivering these services. What these women bring to the table apart from their expertise, are the soft skills of empathy, compassion, friendliness, passion and positivity.

Roehampton is also the part of Wandsworth’s Borough of Sanctuary initiative and welcomes Ukrainian refugees. Again, the women play a big role in this initiative.

Angus Robertson, chair of trustees for Our Roehampton ‘On International Women's Day, Our Roehampton celebrates the contributions that women have made, and continue to make, in our local community. We are lucky to have many wonderful Roehampton-based women who have put their energy into serving our local communities and have been the catalyst for positive change.’

At a time of a cost-of-living crisis and many other challenges for local communities, the services provided by these women and their teams have been an invaluable lifeline for many residents of Roehampton.

Our Roehampton Director, Noreen Meehan is also calling on women in Roehampton to help shape the future of services which will meet the needs of the community - ‘On International Women’s Day, we ask our amazing women within the vibrant community of Roehampton to lead the way in helping us as your community development trust to share our consultation about the key priorities for local people and encourage others to speak up and use their voices, empower themselves and be part of forging a new future for Roehampton - make your voice heard as part of the Community Alliance by filling out our survey, and also be in with a chance of winning a £100 ASDA voucher https://form.typeform.com/to/yDPvBKVg.’

In Roehampton women are showing how an area of London, which faces many challenges but where a community is coming together to help themselves, can be brought alive and turned into a welcoming and vibrant space for all residents through the power of collective action. On International Women’s Day we salute these women and support the growth of their tribe in numbers and strength.

#IWD2025 #AccelerateAction #iwd #internationalwomensday #internationalwomens #internationalwomensweek #womensday #womensday2025

International Women’s Day – Celebrating the women of Roehampton