She previously spent 8 years as Chief Executive of Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA), the charity that supports Jewish women affected by domestic and/or sexual violence, in which role she firmly established herself as an advocate and tireless campaigner on women’s rights. Having initially joined JWA as Refuge Coordinator, as CEO she was responsible for almost doubling the organisation’s annual income, and she was recognised as one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2020. Naomi’s experience also includes roles at Jewish Blind and Disabled and the Notting Hill Housing Trust. She has served as a trustee for the Women’s Aid Federation of England and is currently a trustee for Home-Start UK and Cavell Nurses’ Trust.
Naomi is as passionate about building relationships with staff and stakeholders as she is with the vulnerable people supported by the charities she has led. Her relentless drive to ensure the voices of each of those individuals is heard continues to challenge stigma around domestic and sexual violence and latterly learning disabilities, as well as working to ensure those individuals achieve their best possible outcome.
I call upon the government make affordable and flexible childcare more readily available. Women are still faced with insurmountable barriers to gender equity in the workplace and continue to shoulder too much responsibility for childcare which remains insufficiently flexible. I want the government to lead the change in the status quo at a national level, and ask individual organisations to shine a light on this inequality. By reframing conversations about the barriers to women progressing, individual organisations can help lead the way in resetting work/life parameters, and remove barriers to gender equity in the workplace, helping women to fulfil their potential in all aspects of their lives.