The Body Shop is joining forces with The Circle to turn purchases of Body Butters and direct campaigning action into lasting change for women and girls around the world.
In an exciting new partnership, The Body Shop is committing £150,000 to support The Circle’s Empowerment Fund and our grassroots partners. £50,000 as an unrestricted corporate donation and £100,000 from the proceeds of qualifying Shea Body Butter sales between 8th September and 27th October 2026.
Since 2008, funding from The Circle has supported over 700,000 women and girls across the world to confront violence, fear and discrimination. The additional money from this new partnership will go towards supporting our vital work tackling violence against women and girls and economic inequality, including through our frontline partner organisations.
But that’s not all. The Circle is delighted to be joined by The Body Shop in our efforts to champion and advocate for a fairer and equitable future for women and girls. Shop staff will be encouraging customers to add their signature to our petition to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, calling for our government to turn its commitments to women and girls into practical action that changes lives. We hope that our Circle Changemakers will join us in taking action too.
Violence against women and girls remains one of the world’s most urgent challenges, with one in three women experiencing physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime and over 300 million women and girls living in extreme poverty.
This is an urgent issue both in the UK and globally. In the UK, an estimated 3.2 million women experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking last year. Across the world, essential services women and girls rely on are under severe pressure, with nine in ten humanitarian organisations saying they are either having to set up waiting lists or turn away women in need.*
The UK government is aware of these realities and has pledged to halve violence against women and girls within a decade and put their rights at the heart of foreign policy. These pledges must now become action and that is why we are calling on our government to:
- properly fund vital services such as rape crisis centres and safe refuge accommodation, particularly those led by and for marginalised communities, like our UK partner Sikh Women’s Aid;
- require every government department to show how its policies prevent violence, protect women and girls and tackle the conditions that allow abuse to persist; and
- use the UK’s G20 presidency next year to champion gender equality and economic justice, including fairer debt systems that enable developing countries to invest in the services women and girls urgently need.
We can use our voices to put pressure on the UK government, and we’re so pleased to have the support of The Body Shop and its customers to help us do this.
Founded in 1976, The Body Shop is known for its nature-inspired skincare, body care and beauty products, as well as its activism and belief that business can be a force for good. Its founder, Dame Anita Roddick, who inspired The Circle’s co-founder Annie Lennox, was an entrepreneur and an activist who campaigned tirelessly for human rights, animal rights and environmental issues.
We are delighted that as they mark their 50th anniversary, The Body Shop has chosen to partner with The Circle to campaign together on our joint mission for women’s empowerment and to champion a fairer, safer future for women and girls. We look forward to bringing meaningful change together.
* UN Women Report Beyond the Breaking Point
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