Women's safe house (domestic violence shelter)

INTRODUCTION

Family relationships constitute a significant part of our lives and socialization. From our practice, it follows that relationships between spouses, partners, parents and other family members do not always have to be positive and satisfying. Domestic violence can be a source of major tension, bringing family members to desperation, depression, helplessness and fear. Domestic violence is the least controlled form of violence and affects women of all ages, education levels, social and economic systems, all social classes, ethnicities, cultures and religions. Violence against women is an issue that has recently often been the subject of many discussions not only worldwide, but also in the Slovak Republic. We believe this is a specific type of violence that requires sensitive and proper solutions.

1 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

In professional literature we encounter several definitions of violence against women. The most basic is the definition that sees violence as "an act committed with intent, or with conscious intent, to physically injure another person" (Sopková, 1998). In our view, by adding the female gender dimension to this definition, it specifies acts of violence committed against women.

We rely on the 1993 United Nations definition, which characterizes violence against women as "any gender-based act of violence that causes, or could cause, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or deliberate restriction of freedom, in both public and private life" (Heise, 2000, p. 64). Article 2 further specifies the content of the previous definition: "physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, beating, sexual abuse of girls by household members, violence related to venom, rape in marriage, female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional practices, as well as non-marital violence and exploitation-related violence" (2000b).

In 1986, the Council of Europe defined violence against women as "any act or omission that affects life, physical or psychological integrity, or personal freedom, or seriously harms personality development" (Civková-Juráňová, 2001). We consider this definition insufficient, because it lacks the core concept of power and does not differentiate forms of violence. We include it for comparison, to show how the formulation of the basic definition has evolved.

Current studies show that one quarter to one third of women in Europe are exposed to violence from individuals in their immediate social environment. Except for a few exceptions, the perpetrators are men: partners, spouses, fathers or brothers. If we consider prevailing socio-economic conditions in our society, many women who suffer abuse at home are forced to leave their homes; to protect their lives they search for protection and safety. In many European countries, a large share of such women are admitted to safe women's houses, which are key institutions in the fight against violence against women and children. Safe women's houses are an important factor of social development not only because they provide women and children with a safe environment, but also by promoting equal rights and opportunities for women and men, and basic human rights.

2 SAFE WOMEN’S HOUSE

In Europe, the social problem of violence against women and children by men was marginalized as a taboo topic until the beginning of the 1970s and in Eastern Europe until the beginning of the 1990s. The very first safe women’s house was founded in London in 1972. In the British Isles, further safe women’s houses were opened before the women’s movement spread to Western, Central and Northern Europe and later to Southern Europe, and only after the fall of the Iron Curtain to countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Currently, there are about 1,500 safe women’s houses across Europe. However, many European countries—especially those in Southern and Eastern Europe—still suffer from a lack of safe women’s houses that would provide protection to women and their children. Women who decide to establish a safe women’s house often have to overcome insurmountable obstacles: lack of financial support or political will on the part of state or municipal authorities.

There are four safe women’s houses in Slovakia. Providing unprotected housing for women experiencing violence and their children alone is not enough. A key element that safe women’s houses provide to women and their children is strengthening their ability to take control of their own lives. Women and children living in a safe women’s house should ultimately regain the feeling of living safely.

3 CIVIC ASSOCIATION BRIEŽDENIE – CENTRUM POKOJ

3.1 Goals and target groups of the safe women’s house

Safe women’s houses follow the principles of diversity and fair access, meaning they accept any woman experiencing violence regardless of age, ethnicity, disability, legal status, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, etc. Specifically, this concerns the following target groups (Institute for Research on Work and Family, 2015, p. 98): a) women who are experiencing or have experienced physical, psychological, sexual, economic or other violence in intimate relationships, i.e. by spouse/partner, former spouse/partner, b) women who have experienced physical, psychological, sexual, economic or other violence (e.g. rape, sexual exploitation and trafficking, etc.) by persons other than an intimate partner, c) children of the women listed in points a) and b), including children under 18 years of age or children over 18 in cases where they lived with the woman in a joint household and are preparing for a profession up to the age of 25, d) if the child is a boy over 18, the safe women’s house has the right, due to limited conditions and lack of privacy, not to admit him; however, it is the responsibility of the safe women’s house to find suitable accommodation for the boy, e) a woman in a) and b) may also be a minor mother with children.

  • It is up to each safe women’s house to decide which groups of women experiencing violence, in addition to those who experienced violence in intimate relationships, it will admit; this decision follows from the capabilities of the safe women’s house.
  • Many women dependent on alcohol and drugs, women with psychological problems, or formerly homeless women have experienced or are experiencing violence. For these women, places are also secured in safe women’s houses.
  • Safe women’s houses may specialize in particular groups of women experiencing violence (e.g. women dependent on alcohol and drugs, or migrant women).
  • Refusal of admission, refusal of readmission, or exclusion of a woman experiencing violence from a safe women’s house may occur only in cases of serious violations of rules or danger to the safety of other women and their children in the safe women’s house. (Institute for Research on Work and Family, 2015, p.100)

Civic association Brieždenie succeeded with the project Centrum POKOJ – the improvement of protection and support services for victims of family violence. The project grant is almost €838,000, and OZ Brieždenie co-finances it with €93,057. The funds will enable renovation of the premises where Center POKOJ is located, their modernization and expansion, but above all, an improvement and humanization of the services provided. After the project ends, the facility will become a safe women’s house meeting minimum European standards. It will be the fifth safe women’s house of its kind in Slovakia, built through the Domestic and gender-based violence programme within the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. (Internal materials of O.Z. Brieždenie, 2015)

Specific project outputs:

  • expansion of facility capacity from 33 persons to 60 persons; overall this will be 24 family places,
  • elimination of unsuitable building-technical conditions (replacement of roof covering, replacement of windows, insulation of the façade, adjustment of heating distribution, modernization of sanitary facilities),
  • construction of attic rooms, new kitchen and dining spaces, and rooms for therapeutic, rehabilitation and resocialization services, for ergotherapy, for computer work, and procurement of equipment including ICT to serve clients and their children; overall there will be an addition of 10 accommodation rooms, 2 sanitary rooms, new workrooms (3 rooms), a computer room, counseling office, dining room, social room, visitor room, and a new third kitchen; two kitchenette spaces will be renewed.

Centrum POKOJ is an emergency and protected housing facility and is the only one for its target group for the districts of Martin and Turčianske Teplice, and one of four in the Žilina Region. Unfortunately, demand for such services is increasing — monthly, 15 to 25 new clients request services in crisis situations, primarily from the districts of Martin and Turčianske Teplice, but also from other regions of the Slovak Republic. According to European standards, the facility operates in a confidential mode.

CONCLUSION

Support and protection in a safe women’s house are provided only by women—counseling workers specialized in violence against women. A safe women’s house serves women as a model in which women can gain collective experience that they are capable of living active and independent lives. Therefore, in safe women’s houses only women work, including management/operation leadership. In the work of a safe women’s house, a clear stance and rejection of any form of violence against women is applied, along with an advocacy-based approach supporting women’s interests. A woman is supported in every step while her safety and the safety of her children is taken into account.

Author: PhDr. Ľudmila Húsková The civic association BRIEŽDENIE, Centrum Pokoj, Martin

Project Centrum POKOJ - Safe Women's House for gender-based and domestic violence is financed by a grant from the Kingdom of Norway through the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. Co-financed from the state budget of the Slovak Republic. The project is implemented within the SK09 programme: Domestic and gender-based violence. www.norwaygrants.org „Centrum POKOJ – skvalitnenie služieb ochrany a podpory pre obete násilia v rodinách - CPSS“ „A home must be a safe place for everybody“ – „A home must be a safe place for everybody“.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

CVIKOVÁ, J. - JURÁŇOVÁ, J. 2001. Piata žena – Aspekty násilia páchaného na ženách. Bratislava: Aspekt, 2001. 382 s. ISBN 80-85549-28-X.

HEISE, L. et al. 2000. Násilie páchané na ženách. Bratislava: Aspekt, 2000. 64s. ISBN 80-8032-476-5

SOPKOVÁ, E. 1998. Násilie páchané na ženách v rodine – mlčať, alebo konať. In: Sociálna práca – ľudské práva – vzdelávanie dospelých: Zborník referátov z vedeckej konferencie s medzinárodnou účasťou. Prešov : 1998, s. 455.

Institute for Research on Work and Family: 2015.: Standards of comprehensive support and protection for women experiencing violence. Project description. Bratislava: 2015, 156s. Internal materials of O.Z. Brieždenie Martin: 2015.