WAGEC's Herstory
It took one of our own. It took a woman.
The WAGEC Journey
Our Herstory
It took one of our own. It took a woman.
WAGEC was established in 1977 by a woman named Jeannie Devine - a woman who after becoming homeless and navigating the system (only to experience its failures), took it upon herself to create a space where women could turn when they had nowhere else to go.
Jeannie scoured the city, street-by-street, finding the women in crisis that everyone else had turned away. She sheltered them and guided them – turning the pain of her past into a catalyst for improving the future of women and girls.
More than 40 years later, WAGEC has grown from a small drop-in service in Surry Hills: WAGEC now provides over 200 women and children with accommodation each night, operates three crisis refuges and 40 transitional properties for women and families escaping domestic and family violence and/or homelessness, and actively engages the community to join the movement to end gender-based violence in a generation.
WAGEC carries the vision of Jeannie Devine today, working with women in the community whose experience of violence and systemic disadvantage is not supported by the colonial and patriarchal structures of society.
Where WAGEC Began
Our Roots
In the 1970’s, women came together in Sydney to create awareness, politicise women’s inequality and demand social change. This feminist movement paved the way for WAGEC.
In 1974, the first women’s refuge was established in Glebe by a group of Women’s Liberation activists.
After months of unsuccessful applications to the government and private developers, the women smashed the windows of vacant homes in Glebe and began operating them as safe spaces for women and children.
All the while, Jeannie Devine was experiencing homelessness following the death of her husband and a prolonged bout of illness. During her stay in a refuge for women impacted by disadvantage, she came to understand the injustices faced by other women and realised the causes that led them to homelessness were completely outside their control. She helped in any way she could, with no idea that she was laying the foundation for the work she would go on to do.
In 1977, Jeannie established the Women’s and Girls Emergency Centre after receiving funding through Social Services to build a homelessness support service from the ground up.
She would wander the streets and visit hostels to find women and children who needed support, with the compassion that only comes from lived experience. After single-handedly assisting 375 women and children in one year, her continued advocacy gained her additional funding to expand the Centre.
Her vision was to help all women facing disadvantage, including those who were leaving prison and those who wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else.
I FEEL THE CENTRE SERVES AS A SANCTUARY FOR SOME OF THESE WOMEN, A PLACE WHERE THEY CAN COME TO DISCUSS THEIR PROBLEMS. IT ALSO SHOWS, BY THE THOUSANDS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS WHO HAVE CALLED TO THE CENTRE, THE GREAT NEED FOR MORE PLACES LIKE THIS.
- Jeannie Devine