Allianz Insurance is to provide €1m financial support over three years to Women’s Aid to raise awareness of the extent of domestic abuse against women.

The partnership will support Women’s Aid in tackling the issue of domestic abuse and support those women who are living through domestic abuse in Ireland, said the company.

As well as assisting the women’s support charity, Allianz will implement an internal training programme for all senior managers at Allianz, a domestic abuse policy, and supports for its more than 650 staff.

The issue of domestic abuse, which can take violent and non-violent forms such as coercive control or financial abuse, became more prevalent during the pandemic with more than 29,700 contacts with Women’s Aid in 2020 resulting in 30,841 disclosures, an increase of 43% on 2019.  

Research among both customers and staff led to the choice of domestic abuse as the right cause for the company to champion, and the ‘World’s Strongest Women’ campaign was developed alongside Women’s Aid.

In Association with

Allianz chief executive Sean McGrath  (pictured) stated: “Ireland has broken taboos on so many topics in the recent past, but it is staggering to learn that fear of what neighbours may think remains a primary concern for women living through domestic abuse. 

“Breaking the silence and ending another taboo will be among the most meaningful things we can do to support the world’s strongest women, those women experiencing domestic abuse. We hope that through this campaign, the women who live in or experience these difficult and traumatic situations realise that support is here to help them reach a better now and a better tomorrow.”

Women’s Aid chief executive Sarah Benson said: “Since foundation in 1974, Women’s Aid is committed to working in cooperation with leaders at all levels in our community. Together we can create a zero tolerance in Ireland for all forms of gender based violence, including the scourge of domestic abuse.

“We are simply delighted to join with Allianz to further this goal. With the combined innovation of public awareness, internal policy development and training, this partnership represents a wonderful model of how companies of any size can collaborate with specialist services to generate a positive change for their employees, their customers and our wider society.”