World Jewish Relief has announced that it will be “prioritising the needs of women and girls” across all aspects of its operations, with the charity vowing to “change the lives of 50,000 women over the next five years.”

The announcement comes ahead of the organisation’s inaugural Women of World Jewish Relief event this week, which aims to encourage women of all ages to proactively engage in the charity’s work, give according to their means and encourage their friends and family to do the same. Held at the JW3 Jewish community centre in North West London, it is also intended to raise awareness of the different women WJR supports across the world, with three women, from Rwanda, Ukraine and a Syrian refugee living in Bradford talking about their experience and how World Jewish Relief can change lives.

Paul Anticoni, WJR’s Chief Executive, said: “Every day, women and girls around the world face poverty, discrimination, violence, injustice and inequality just because they are women. Women have less access to land, education, income, decision-making, political influence and opportunity – all of which keeps them in a cycle of poverty. We want to change that.

“In Eastern Europe, women make up a large proportion of those we help. The Soviet Union lost over 20 million citizens in WW2, the majority of whom were men. Their sisters and widows now make up 80% of our social isolation, home repairs and homecare programmes for the elderly. These are dignified, courageous and hard-working women who have endured so much and require our support.

“Equally pressing are the needs of women and girls when disaster strikes. Last year we helped 39,000 women around the world in the aftermath of an emergency. As well as the immediate impact, they are also vulnerable to increased rates of sexual and domestic violence. Women are left to care for those affected which increases their workload and emotional burden.”

Mr Anticoni stressed that this effort “doesn’t mean we are going to ignore the needs of men and boys. We will ensure that our services are designed to best address their specific needs and we will work to bring them on board so they can be a part of eliminating gender discrimination.

“World Jewish Relief is making a commitment to prioritise the needs of women and girls across all aspects of our work. We will change the lives of 50,000 women over the next five years through new initiatives and an expansion of our current work. And in doing so we will seek to inspire women within our community to join us on this journey and play an active role in helping us change the lives of women and girls for the better.”