Glasgow Women's Housing Association
| Abbreviation | GWHA |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1914 |
| Founded at | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Type | Non-governmental organisation |
| Purpose | campaigned for subsidised housing; opposing profiteering by landlords; challenged the lack of municipal housing due to speculative urban development |
| Methods | Rent Strikes; marches and speeches, protest leaflets and latterly engagement with the legislative process |
Key people | Mary Burns Laird, Mary Barbour, Agnes Dollan, Helen Crawfurd, Jessie Ferguson |
Glasgow Women's Housing Association (GWHA) was established in Glasgow, Scotland, in mid-1914 by the Independent Labour Party Housing Committee launched by Andrew McBride in 1913 and the Women's Labour League in reaction to the increasing rent prices and overcrowding exacerbated by the advent of the First World War.
The Women's Labour League which included Jessie Ferguson and Mrs Nixon among its members promoted the formation of housing associations in each ward of the city affiliated to the GWHA. GWHA was non-political but campaigned for subsidised housing and criticised profiteering by landlords and the lack of municipal housing provision due to speculative urban development. The GWHA were instrumental in the organisation of the Glasgow Rent Strike of 1915. and were described as a 'major pre-war organisational effort in support of the strikes'. As a result of the rent strikes the Rent Act of 1915 was passed.
Eventually GWHA assisted the improvement of the post war Housing and Town Planning Act 1919 for municipal social housing.