The Women’s Jewellery Network (WJN) has announced that it will be shutting down, effective immediately.

Founder Victoria McKay, who built the organisation from scratch three years ago and has since created a vibrant global community, cited a change in personal circumstances for the closure of WJN.

“The world has changed a lot over the past several months and, like everyone else, we’re adapting with it,” she writes in an open letter published exclusively on The Jewellery Cut. “Not least, changes in my work life mean I no longer have capacity to lead WJN.

“At board level, after much soul searching and debate, myself, Nyasha Pitt, Kathryn Bishop and Rachael Taylor have come to recognise that our efforts could be invested in strengthening our individual abilities to create impact. For WJN to do the work it needs to be doing, it would need to commercialise outputs to afford to pay us a living wage. For us, it has never been about the money.”

WJN has never charged a membership fee, and has relied on the voluntary work of its board, ambassadors and advocates. With McKay no longer able to dedicate time to running the Network, and none of the other board members able to take over such a demanding role, due to other commitments, closure was the only option.

However, in her open letter McKay speaks about a hope that others will pick up the gauntlet. While the organisation was originally founded to challenge gender disparity in the jewellery industry, in recent years it has widened its scope to create a safe and supportive space for all sexes and to fight back against all types of discrimination and imbalance in the jewellery industry, such as class, gender, race or sexuality.

“Fill the gap that the WJN is leaving,” urges McKay in her letter. “The race should be on to now create a meaningful, radical and future-facing organisation. The jewellery industry absolutely has institutions and organisations with considerable resources that could drive real positive change. We all really hope that someone else will step up and be counted; rise to this challenge with a holistic, inclusive and progressive vision.”

Read Victoria McKay’s full letter here, and for a column by WJN board member Nyasha Pitt on the fight for equality in the jewellery industry and beyond click here