WOMEN’S REFUGES, FIFTY YEARS ON

 

WOMEN’S REFUGES, FIFTY YEARS ON

Big Issue North magazine

Nationwide network aids victims of violence

Campaigners have also brought changes to law

The heroic women who opened the first refuge for domestic violence victims 50 years ago could never have envisaged it would lead to a nationwide network of secret locations that annually help thousands of women seeking to rebuild their lives free of their abusers.

 It was on 3 November 1971 that the first refuge opened. Its spokeswoman was Erin Pizzey, who had opened a social centre near her home in Chiswick. This changed dramatically when a badly bruised woman arrived with her children saying no one could help her. Chiswick Women’s Aid, now known as Refuge, was born. Discreet notices were put in newspapers telling victims they and their children could receive help. Many did.

Eighteen women and 46 children began living in the house in Chiswick, sleeping on shared mattresses. The lack of personal space was overlooked because everyone felt safe. The premises though were too small.

Unused house

Pizzey unsuccessfully approached local councils for help so the group started squatting, taking over any unused house. These swiftly became full.

Interviewed by the BBC recently, Pizzey, now aged 82, said: “The police couldn’t do anything because it wasn’t illegal then – and no council would want to have to rehome 15 mothers and their children every time.

“We even squatted in the 47-suite Palm Court Hotel in Rochamond.

The refuges were run communally with important decisions made by vote. Everyone mucked in. Pizzey inspired other women. Other refuges – 40 alone in 1974 – were established. Providing safe and secure accommodation for women went alongside publicising the issue of domestic abuse for the first time.

The National Women’s Aid Federation was established in 1974. Refuge is a member and is the country’s largest provider of specialist domestic and gender-based violence services. Refuge supports at its public community projects and refuges over 6,000 women and children on any given day.

One of the early refuges in the North was in Warrington, where Betty Tebbs led a campaign by Warrington and District Battered Wives Association to open one. In her autobiography Tebbs, who died in 2017, wrote: “When I asked for assistance from local councillors, all male, they told me there was no need for such a place as no one had asked for one before.”

Violent episodes

This response prompted the campaigners to set up a women’s aid group in 1976, which raised enough money to buy a cheap three bedroom terraced house in 1978. It could house three women and up to four children.

According to Tebbs: “Volunteers were found to repair and decorate the property… donations helped purchase equipment and fittings.

“When social services contacted the home it was the responsibility for whichever volunteer was on call to pick up and maintain ongoing welfare support for the woman

 

and her children needing assistance.”

 So exhausting was the work that eventually only a handful of volunteers could maintain their involvement. The refuge could only keep going when social services agreed to run it at night.

This was still no easy task and Tebbs, a retired printworker, faced a number of tricky, potentially violent episodes when aggressive partners objected to women leaving the family home. She occasionally needed the police to collect a woman’s belongings from the home she had just quit.

“Women suffered for many years before they took the decision to leave the home they helped build,” she wrote. Warrington Women’s Aid exists today. It can house 13 women and 19 children.

‘Huge upheaval’

As refuges grew, they increasingly needed paid staff and sought new funding streams. Where funds permitted, they provided training for police officers and those working in the criminal justice system about how domestic violence affects women. They started a national abuse helpline, and specialist projects for black and ethnic minority women, some of whom had no recourse to public funds.

The centres mounted campaigns to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence and to improve legislation and various criminal justice procedures. Sometimes workers had to physically defend the centres and residents when perpetrators discovered their locations. After a long campaign, in 1991, rape in marriage in England and Wales became illegal. Previously it was argued that what happened behind closed doors stayed there.

 According to ONS data for the year 2019/2020, 1.6 million women aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse. Over 100 women and three men are killed annually by their partners or ex-partners. One in three women aged 16-59 will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime.

There were 261 refuges in England in 2020, down from 294 in 2010, with bed space for 3,578 people. Refuges have to turn away around 90 people and their children each day because of lack of space.

Maria Edwards, operations manager at Refuge, believes the need for refuges is the same as in 1971.

“Women and children need an emergency place to flee domestic abuse, which is the biggest societal abuse impacting on women,” she said.

“It is a huge upheaval to leave your home and support network, including removing children from school, and be plonked miles away. Specialist staff in refuges help women settle in comfortably and provide one-to-one emotional and practical support whilst constantly thinking ‘safety, safety.’

“Services are signposted from local and senior government, police, doctor surgeries, the NHS, housing departments and other statutory places.”

 What has changed since 1971 are the methods by which domestic abusers stalk and monitor their victims. They can access emails and send abusive messages, while “stalkerware” lets them spy on women. Refuge is using the 50th anniversary of the opening in Chiswick to explain to women that tech abuse is growing and how it can be combated.

Despite the vital work of Refuge and other women’s domestic abuse services the sector is struggling to obtain the £393 million funds that Women’s Aid calculates is needed annually. Some £184 million was allocated by the government this year.

Sasha* was harassed, stalked and threatened by an ex-partner and was forced to leave her hometown and job, anxious and deeply depressed. She lived in a refuge in another city for eight months.

“I dread to think how many women and children have needed to use refuge services in those 50 years, but I’m so grateful that that support system was there for them and hopefully it kept them safe and gave them a way to start afresh,” she said.

“Refuges are incredibly important safety nets. I have seen how much goes into ensuring that women feel safe, empowered and advocated for.

“It’s taken a lot of therapy and time for me to leave the constant state of survival mode I existed in for so long, but I finally feel like I can look forward to progressing in my life and career and to be able to focus on what I want rather than what will keep me safe.”

MARK METCALF *Not her real name. You can read a longer interview with Sasha in next week’s

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