“What’s next for the women’s movement”(5 March)? Two women are killed every week in England and Wales by abusive partners, yet since 2010, 17% of women’s refuges in England have shut. In a typical day, 103 children and 155 women are turned away from a refuge because they can’t be accommodated; 10% are declined because the refuge is unable to meet their individual needs, such as those with mental health issues or who come from Black, Asian and minority ethnic or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities who may require specialist support.

There’s a lot we can do to help them as women and business organisations. Initiatives that help build self-esteem and develop empowerment are key to helping victims of abuse break out of their situation. The Longleigh Foundation is funding an innovative “recovery toolkit” programme at South Hampshire Women’s Refuge in Southampton. Over six months this project will help about 15 women, at a cost of £2,300 per candidate.

Sue Terry

Chair, Longleigh Foundation

• In the wake of International Women’s Day, the prime minister is attending an EU heads of state summit at which two topics dominate the agenda: Brexit and migration. As agencies assisting refugee women and girls in the UK and around the world, we hope Theresa May takes one message to our European colleagues – that the UK is serious about being a good European citizen when it comes to sharing the responsibility for hosting refugees.

This month marks the anniversary of the EU-Turkey refugee deal, which resulted in the closing of Turkey’s border with Syria, trapping innocent people inside the war zone. This month, European governments also plan on returning migrants to Greece, where some have frozen to death in substandard camps this winter, and to the chaos and violence in Libya. The horrific impacts of these decisions on refugee women and girls cannot be overstated. If fresh accounts of how female migrants through Libya are being repeatedly and systematically raped (Report, 1 March) do not provoke a rethink of the UK and Europe’s approach, then nothing will.

A young Syrian girl at a refugee camp close to the Turkish-Syrian border near Azaz town in 2016. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Whatever shape Brexit takes, the UK cannot project a Global Britain, if its actions project a Little England. We need the UK and the wider EU to offer safe and legal routes for women and girls fleeing violence and persecution. As well as reversing the shameful decision to cut short the sanctuary offered to unaccompanied minors under the Dubs amendment, the government should offer vulnerable adult refugees, including survivors of gender-based violence and pregnant women with family in the UK, a place of safety here.

In a world in which some leaders pander to the worst kinds of xenophobia, isolationism and narrowly defined nationalism, we hope for more from both the UK and the EU.

Dr Helen Pankhurst Campaign ambassador, Care International

Mina Jaf Director, Women Refugee Route

• Following on from your letters regarding International Women’s Day, I would like to draw your readers’ attention to the “Flower Aid” petition on Change.org. It suggests that flower shops and online flower delivery services donate 1% of profits on Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and International Women’s Day to Women’s Aid. This would be a much better way of paying respect to women and longer lasting.

Where I live, in the Highlands, we are 100 miles away from the nearest refuge. There are peripatetic support workers here but locally and nationally Women’s Aid needs more resources now more than ever.

Stephen Cox

Roster, Caithness