Staff revolt as 'non-feminist' weapons firm CEO hired to run Refuge

[stumbledin]

Britain's best known domestic violence charity is in turmoil over the appointment of a woman who runs a weapons technology company as its new chairman.

The senior management team at Refuge are demanding the resignation of Hetti Barkworth-Nanton over her role as chief executive of a Ministry of Defence spin-off company that has developed silent ammunition, hand grenades and a new type of explosive.

In a whistle-blowing letter, seen by The Daily Telegraph, senior Refuge staff warned that her appointment would damage the “reputation and financial well-being” of the charity.

Mrs Barkworth-Nanton is the chief executive of Ploughshare Innovations Ltd, based at Porton Down in Wiltshire, which sells “defence and security technologies” developed in MoD laboratories.

Refuge staff say her involvement in the arms trade is incompatible with a domestic violence charity that abhors violence.

They also accuse her of not being a feminist and of trying to “impose radical change” on a charity “at the height of its reputation”.

In a private report, seen by The Telegraph, Dame Stella Rimington, the former MI5 head and a former Refuge trustee, criticised its board for appointing Mrs Barkworth-Nanton without making “more effort to keep the management team on side” and failing to appreciate the extent of the risk caused.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/11/staff-revolt-non-feminist-weapons-firm-boss-hired-run-domestic/

(Dont have access to entire article but am gob smacked not just by the new Chair being CEO of an arms firm but that Stella Rimington MI5 also involved. Pot? kettle?)

Just unbelievable! Who made the decision to appoint her? So inappropriate...

Refuge has always been seen as more of a corporate entity than a charity, and there were earlier investigations by the charity commission over family members being given well paid jobs or something.

But given the roll call of trustees it is no wonder they go the contract for runing the Domestic Violence Helpline, actually initiated and set up by Women's Aid, as all these people must be part of government networks.

I know WAFE has had its own problems with it's CEO (still not replaced) but as the founders of DV services in this country it is inappropriate that an organisation that was set up to challenge feminist analysis of domestic violence keeps getting Government contracts.

And now this. I think mission drift is really a strong enough description.

I am stunned by this and there seems very little in the media about this so thank you for posting. I’m going to do some googling now.

I don't have a problem with her appointment based on this. The fact is the country employs millions of people in the name of defence, whether in the armed services or in the production of the machinery of war. Countries prepare for war in the effort to maintain peace, as arse about face as that might seem.

Perhaps we should scrap the ministry of defence too?

Sorry just read the OP more closely, if the objection is based on her non-feminist values or desire to make changes that are not seen as beneficial, then I would object. But not on her job history at face value.

I don’t see the issue? I’m ex-military. Does everyone who has previously worked in defence get auto-banned? Shit. Better tell the teenage girls that I’ve volunteered with for years that my credentials are besmirched.
The issues with contracts notwithstanding, I would expect that the interview process would have been rigorous enough to determine her motives.

What radical changes does she want to impose? Gender ideology?

What’s wrong with Stella Rimington?

The issue with charities is a lot of people in private sector moved over and are focused on the money and not the aim.

It feels incompatible to me tbh.

The issue would be that war makes an enormous amount of people homeless globally. And having an interest in a weapons company is therefore at odds with working with refuge.

I am sorry, I dont see the problem with this with either.

“Mrs Barkworth-Nanton became involved as a domestic violence campaigner after Joanna Simpson, her best friend and a mother of two, was battered to death with a claw hammer by British Airways pilot Robert Brown, her estranged husband“

I know WAFE has had its own problems with it's CEO (still not replaced) but as the founders of DV services in this country it is inappropriate that an organisation that was set up to challenge feminist analysis of domestic violence keeps getting Government contracts.

Can you explain that? In what way was Refuge set up to challenge feminist analysis of domestic violence? Genuinely know nothing about this?

I find this story odd. Do we not want a national defence ? The magical thinking of the charity sector depresses me.

I don’t know what’s meant by anti-feminist either. Unless it means feminists are anti war which is either a truism, in that we are all anti war, or nonsense.

“Mrs Barkworth-Nanton became involved as a domestic violence campaigner after Joanna Simpson, her best friend and a mother of two, was battered to death with a claw hammer by British Airways pilot Robert Brown, her estranged husband“

I think that's a more than fair enough reason for a woman to become a DV campaigner, to be honest.

First of all I couldn't access the full article so if anyone can there may be more info there.

Second it is well know that in areas of conflict not on sexual violence but domestic violence increase.

Stella Rimington and in fact this new Chair may both be very nice women who have empathy with DV. However charities and especially women's projects have a different ethos in terms of how they are run. So this may be more what is going on for instance (speculation) a business practice (zero hours contracts?) approach, rather than a cooperative approach based on the feminist analysis of DV.

(Stella Rimington as someone involved with surveillance, tracking etc., maybe the best or worst placed person to have in an organisation that also tries to protect women from being tracked by abusive partners through communication devices.)

re Refuge - formerly Chiswick Women's Aid - and WAFE this is a very long and old history which I think is covered in another thread which I will try and find. The founder of Chiswick WA was Erin Pizzey who became a media darling, but actually thought women were partly responsible for suffering domestic violence because of the choices they made, and that feminism was a communist plot and turned women lesbian! WAFE is the federation of Women's Refuges based on a feminist analysis of DV, ie male violence and sex class power imbalance. They conceived and developed the work practices in refuges and set up the National Helpline. This was then funded by Government but insisted that it was then put out to tender and gave the work to Refuge. This may just have been economic as Refuge has a huge income parlty because the media have always promoted Refuge as THE if not the only domestic violence service in England.

One of the biggest reasons for mission drift in charities and voluntary sector groups are Trustees who may have expertise as say accountants but have not skill or understanding of work practice. They often judge things in a business way eg if we offer services to men, trans people or ... we will get a bigger income. Rather than thinking it is better to stay small a specialised. eg Women's Pioneer Housing decided not to expand as they felt they wouldn't be able to maintian core values. Housing Associations are the best / worst exmple of how a pursuit for income generating over prioritising specialised service leads to near total illimination of original aims, even when the needs exists.

This is the only other thread I can find re WAFE and Refuge - I thought there was another one www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3634009-Womens-Aid-England-loses-funding-for-National-Helpline

One of the biggest reasons for mission drift in charities and voluntary sector groups are Trustees who may have expertise as say accountants but have not skill or understanding of work practice

I must say that’s not my experience. I’m a trustee of a charity and the trustees are battling hard to keep the charity on mission - a challenge made for more difficult by the relentless SJW mentality of some who work in the charity sector. Those of us from outside the sector are exhausted by it.

Binterested - maybe its a generational thing ie my experience now out of date, but when Blair and Cameron were all about the "Third Sector" a lot of political wannabes crashed in charities.

But now maybe it is reversed those who have some history with the charity are having to fight to keep its purpose in face of SJW and woke graduates.

Dame Stella Rimington, the former MI5 head and a former Refuge trustee, criticised its board for appointing Mrs Barkworth-Nanton

Hah. Surely that is hypocrisy? A head of an internal intelligence agency known for many human rights abuses (ie. torture) objecting to a ceo of a military arms firm on the grounds of being incompatible with a charity that abhors violence?

As for her being “non feminist” why should that matter? You can support DV refuges without being a feminist. DV is a crime, it is abhorrent to every decent person regardless of political alignment.

And military background isn’t all about projecting violence, it is also about protecting the weak and defenceless. Most people in the military are protective, defender types not war mongering sociopaths just itching to go on a blood soaked rampage.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

“Mrs Barkworth-Nanton became involved as a domestic violence campaigner after Joanna Simpson, her best friend and a mother of two, was battered to death with a claw hammer by British Airways pilot Robert Brown, her estranged husband“

I think that's a more than fair enough reason for a woman to become a DV campaigner, to be honest.

I'm a DV survivor.

My immediate concern reading this was noting an attempt to bully and coerce a woman out of her job. For being deemed insufficiently pure. Purity spiral.

That frightens me. Where will it stop? Refuse to support or house in their refuges women who might have any possible links to something or someone not part of current prescribed acceptable think.

Defence weapons is a complex area. As other posts have pointed out weapons can and do very often play a role in protection and peacekeeping. It's no black and white issue.

Having the very personal and traumatic experience of losing her close friend to DV, she sounds ideal for the job. A real genuine motivation to help DV survivors.

I could be wrong. Time will tell. I share your concerns about the corporatisation of charities. The original (still very much needed) aims of many charities is being far too often lost. Fundraising has become a polished corporate thing yet somehow the money doesn't seem to reach the vulnerable and needy for whom it's originally intended. Having a polished charity image and providing a way for high net worth individuals to limit tax payments (via gift aid tax refunds) is the priority.

Nevertheless, in this instance her personal loss indicates a genuine desire to help DV survivors. Her connections to the weapons defence industry, a complex area, is irrelevant and should not be a reason to hound her out.

I am genuinely shocked that some on this thread seem to think not being a feminist isn't an issue if you are part of an organisation like Refuge.

Its fundamental to providing a service that is centred on women's experience of secondary in a society where there are 2 sex classes and one has power and the other doesn't.

Not to be bothered about the underlying ethics that guide how the service is run is a daft (or quite honestly dismissive of women) as the funders who said they didn't need to bother with Eaves and its specialised services for trafficked and prostituted women because the Salvation Army could do it cheaper (and include a christian message).

Are you kidding me?

I think since Erin Pizzey moved on they are no longer promoting the idea that domestic violence is as much the women suffering violence as it is the perpetrators.

What does it say about mumsnet FWR that some think you can just contract out services. This is the race to the bottom in service provision that allows young children to be sent to non certified care homes and have no protection, or a housing body to allow an ALMO to run housing provision despite having no housing experience - think Grenfell.

I'm a DV survivor.

My immediate concern reading this was noting an attempt to bully and coerce a woman out of her job. For being deemed insufficiently pure. Purity spiral.

Same here. And I agree with you.

A woman who has risen to the top of such a male dominated sector, will no doubt have come up against every rule of misogyny on the way. This pile on just seems like more of it.

Is she really not a feminist or is that just an accusation being thrown at her?

Pretty normal to have people from corporate backgrounds becoming chairs of charities to keep the governance strong. Agree the defence industry is loathsome, though, so I can see why there is unhappiness.