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Women's crisis centers and shelters in Italy: working with battered women and with health care providers
International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 78 Suppl. 1 (2002) S65–S66
Women’s crisis centers and shelters in Italy: working with battered women and with health care providers N. Livi-Bacci* Associazione Artemisia, Florence, Italy
Abstract Results of working with battered women stress the necessity to develop practical innovations and create a supportive non-judgmental environment for female victims of violence. 䊚 2002 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Domestic abuse; Violence against women and children; Gender-based violence; Italy
I would like to thank Antonella and the other women of the speak-out panel for sharing their experience with us. It is also very significant that these women not only have managed to free themselves from a very difficult situation, but they have also succeeded in creating resources for other women victims of domestic abuse. This sustains our fundamental assumption that women who are abused or battered have innate strengths which are used to change or improve their situation and to protect themselves and their children. Crisis centers and shelters for battered women have facilitated the realization of the battered women’s inner strength and worth by offering respectful understanding and useful support. Clinicians also have the opportunity to affirm and *Tel.: q39-055-602311. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Livi-Bacci).
accentuate this potential through a positive outlook on women. I live in Florence, Italy, where in the early 1990s, in association with other women, I was a co-founder of Artemisia: a women’s association to fight violence against women and children. We initiated our operational activities in 1995, when we opened a crisis center. This center provided many cost-free services and resources, among others self-help groups and legal, psychological and social counseling to abused women and children. Later a residential shelter was also opened. In Italy, the battered women’s movement has been very strong and very active, not only in providing direct service delivery, but also in seeking multiple avenues for impacting change, lobbying for legislative action and other appropriate activities to improve the community’s response to all abused women. The first crisis centers and
0020-7292/02/$ - see front matter 䊚 2002 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 2 0 - 7 2 9 2 Ž 0 2 . 0 0 0 4 6 - 2
SSS66
N. Livi-Bacci / International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 78 Suppl. 1 (2002) S65–S66
shelters for battered women in Italy were opened in Bologna and Milano, two cities of the north, in the late 1980s. Since then approximately 100 crisis centers and hot lines altogether and 18 residential shelters started to operate through the Italian territory from north to south. Almost all shelters are run by independent groups of women and partially sustained by public money. The majority of the shelters operate in a network with a similar approach to violence. This approach is based on a theoretical perspective that sees gender relations as based on oppression, exploitation and dominance of men over women, not only in private life, but also in society. Much of the abuse against women is also part of a large socioeconomic web that entraps women, making them vulnerable to abuse of different kinds. Eliminating violence requires urgent policy and practical responses. In Italy women’s advocacy groups have raised the problem of violence and provided many responses, but this is not enough. The need for collaboration between women’s advocates and social health providers and the community care system is a must. Battered women, as a result of the battering, suffer from a variety of physical and mental health problems. As we have learned from the experiences shared by battered women, the response to their problems is not always appropriate or safe. The policy of Artemisia, as well as other Italian women’s shelters, has been to set up functional working relations with the local institutions like the judiciary system, the police, local government social workers an so on, in order to create an interactive network of service providers and a better mutual understanding of each institution’s specific functions on violence
issues. In Florence and in many other cities where women’s shelters are operating we have been able to organize training workshops for law-enforcement personnel, social workers and social health providers on issues of domestic violence. Building a bridge between battered women’s advocates, health providers and the community care system is of vital importance because if doctors, nurses, social workers, and law enforcement personnel are not properly trained to recognize abuse they can contribute to further abuse of the victim. These institutions, in collaboration with battered women advocates, should develop a number of practical innovations useful to battered women. These include: ● screening techniques and procedures for the identification of various types of abuse; ● safety planning for battered women; and collaborative intervention and treatment. The problem of violence against women is enormous. No agency can solve it alone and there are no easy answers, but women advocates and public institutions together can create a supportive non-judgmental environment for women victims of violence, within a comprehensive and integrated framework. The response women get when seeking help is very important. A woman can be further victimized by a negative response or her experience can be validated and she can be helped to access support and protection. Unless the intervention takes into consideration the factors responsible for domestic violence, that is gender dynamics of power and cultural and economic factors, she will certainly be further victimized.
Women’s crisis centers and shelters in Italy: working with battered women and with health care providers N. Livi-Bacci* Associazione Artemisia, Florence, Italy
Abstract Results of working with battered women stress the necessity to develop practical innovations and create a supportive non-judgmental environment for female victims of violence. 䊚 2002 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Domestic abuse; Violence against women and children; Gender-based violence; Italy
I would like to thank Antonella and the other women of the speak-out panel for sharing their experience with us. It is also very significant that these women not only have managed to free themselves from a very difficult situation, but they have also succeeded in creating resources for other women victims of domestic abuse. This sustains our fundamental assumption that women who are abused or battered have innate strengths which are used to change or improve their situation and to protect themselves and their children. Crisis centers and shelters for battered women have facilitated the realization of the battered women’s inner strength and worth by offering respectful understanding and useful support. Clinicians also have the opportunity to affirm and *Tel.: q39-055-602311. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Livi-Bacci).
accentuate this potential through a positive outlook on women. I live in Florence, Italy, where in the early 1990s, in association with other women, I was a co-founder of Artemisia: a women’s association to fight violence against women and children. We initiated our operational activities in 1995, when we opened a crisis center. This center provided many cost-free services and resources, among others self-help groups and legal, psychological and social counseling to abused women and children. Later a residential shelter was also opened. In Italy, the battered women’s movement has been very strong and very active, not only in providing direct service delivery, but also in seeking multiple avenues for impacting change, lobbying for legislative action and other appropriate activities to improve the community’s response to all abused women. The first crisis centers and
0020-7292/02/$ - see front matter 䊚 2002 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 2 0 - 7 2 9 2 Ž 0 2 . 0 0 0 4 6 - 2
SSS66
N. Livi-Bacci / International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 78 Suppl. 1 (2002) S65–S66
shelters for battered women in Italy were opened in Bologna and Milano, two cities of the north, in the late 1980s. Since then approximately 100 crisis centers and hot lines altogether and 18 residential shelters started to operate through the Italian territory from north to south. Almost all shelters are run by independent groups of women and partially sustained by public money. The majority of the shelters operate in a network with a similar approach to violence. This approach is based on a theoretical perspective that sees gender relations as based on oppression, exploitation and dominance of men over women, not only in private life, but also in society. Much of the abuse against women is also part of a large socioeconomic web that entraps women, making them vulnerable to abuse of different kinds. Eliminating violence requires urgent policy and practical responses. In Italy women’s advocacy groups have raised the problem of violence and provided many responses, but this is not enough. The need for collaboration between women’s advocates and social health providers and the community care system is a must. Battered women, as a result of the battering, suffer from a variety of physical and mental health problems. As we have learned from the experiences shared by battered women, the response to their problems is not always appropriate or safe. The policy of Artemisia, as well as other Italian women’s shelters, has been to set up functional working relations with the local institutions like the judiciary system, the police, local government social workers an so on, in order to create an interactive network of service providers and a better mutual understanding of each institution’s specific functions on violence
issues. In Florence and in many other cities where women’s shelters are operating we have been able to organize training workshops for law-enforcement personnel, social workers and social health providers on issues of domestic violence. Building a bridge between battered women’s advocates, health providers and the community care system is of vital importance because if doctors, nurses, social workers, and law enforcement personnel are not properly trained to recognize abuse they can contribute to further abuse of the victim. These institutions, in collaboration with battered women advocates, should develop a number of practical innovations useful to battered women. These include: ● screening techniques and procedures for the identification of various types of abuse; ● safety planning for battered women; and collaborative intervention and treatment. The problem of violence against women is enormous. No agency can solve it alone and there are no easy answers, but women advocates and public institutions together can create a supportive non-judgmental environment for women victims of violence, within a comprehensive and integrated framework. The response women get when seeking help is very important. A woman can be further victimized by a negative response or her experience can be validated and she can be helped to access support and protection. Unless the intervention takes into consideration the factors responsible for domestic violence, that is gender dynamics of power and cultural and economic factors, she will certainly be further victimized.