La Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis
A one-stop shop to regain hope and self-confidence
In France, a woman dies every 3 days at the hands of her partner. Around the world over 200 million girls and women have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
La Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis, established in 2016, is a unique haven for survivors of violence. The centre provides access to 60 professionals (doctors, midwives, psychologists, social workers, police officers, lawyers…) across four units: domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape, family planning, and FGM.
The Kering Foundation has supported the project since its inception, helping founder Dr. Ghada Hatem implement her vision of opening a safe space for women that offers holistic services for survivors of violence. The Foundation partially financed the construction of the building, salaries of the health professionals, and operational management capacities. Along with its financial support, the Kering Foundation opened its network and mobilized other corporate partners as well as internal resources to assist la Maison des femmes.
The Kering Foundation's backing allowed for la Maison des femmes to develop its model and respond to the most pressing needs of survivors, as illustrated by the opening of a service for victims of incest in 2019.
Today, La Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis is heralded as a successful model to follow. Its model, based on multidisciplinary care for survivors, has proven its effectiveness.
In March 2021, the Re#Start Collective was launched to bring together structures that care for and accompany women in difficulty and survivors of violence. Re#Start has two ambassadors: Elisabeth Moreno, French Minister Delegate for Gender Equality, Diversity and Equal Opportunities between 2020 and 2022, and François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering and Chairman of the Kering Foundation. At the Generation Equality Forum, a global gathering for gender equality convened by UN Women, the Kering Group, through its Foundation, committed, alongside the French government, to fund the creation and roll-out of 15 structures, based on the model of La Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis. The Foundation has supported the opening of La Maison des femmes in Marseille in January 2022, as well as the development of La Maison des femmes in Rennes, which should be operational in 2023.
In 2021:
4,174 women victims of violence were supported.
More than 15,000 consultations were provided.
8% of patients were less than 19 years old.
"The Kering Foundation has been a critical partner as the first private funder to support our vision, contributing to its initial construction, and enabling us to gain support from the public authorities"
– Dr. Ghada Hatem, Founder of La Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis.