The National Women’s Council is the leading national representative organisation for women and women’s groups in Ireland, founded in 1973. We have over 190 member groups and a large and growing community of individual supporters.

Our ambition, purpose and values

The ambition of the National Women’s Council is an Ireland where every woman enjoys true equality and no woman is left behind. This ambition shapes and informs our work, and, with our living values, how we work. 

We are a movement-building organisation rooted in our membership, working on the whole island of Ireland. We are also part of the international movement to protect and advance women’s and girls’ rights. 

Our purpose is to lead action for the achievement of women’s and girls’ equality through mobilising, influencing, and building solidarity.

Our living values guide us. They are given expression in our work, and in how we work, as an organisation.

We are committed to these living values:

• Feminist: Feminism is a core and essential value of our organisation. This means we consistently act to achieve true equality for all women and girls.
   
• Inclusive: We are active in ensuring that no woman is left behind in our journey to achieve true equality.
   
• Fearless: Our ambition and purpose mean that we are fearless leaders for all women, actively challenging that which is in the way of the achievement of true equality.
   
• Caring: We value care, including its full expression in how we act as an organisation.
   
• Strategic: Being effective and successful in advancing our purpose requires us to be strategic; Showing leadership and strength in collaborations with partners, prioritising our work and making choices that are achievable and future-oriented.
   
• Diverse: The women of Ireland are a diverse group, and we are their voice, therefore we bring diversity to everything we do and how we operate as an organisation.

Our Governance and Funding

NWC is directed by an Executive Board which oversees the work of the Director and staff and which is elected from group member nominees at the AGM.

NWC is funded by grants from Government, the largest coming from the Department of Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, as well as a range of state agencies, including HSE and Pobal. Newly developed fundraising and membership strategies aim to grow our funding base as well as our membership, so that we will expand as a movement-building organisation and have increased resources available to achieve our ambitions.

By ‘woman’ we refer to any person who identifies as a woman.