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English

The Women's Shelter

Have you been a victim of domestic violence or do you know someone who needs help?

Introduction

Violence against women occurs across all levels of society and in all societies across the world. Women and girls all over the world face the risk of being subjected to various forms of gendered violence. Violence against women is a gross violation of women’s human rights.

The Beijing Platform for Action states that in all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse.. It states that the term - violence against women - means "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life."

It further states that "violence against women is a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of women’s full advancement."

Violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of equality between men and women in society, and must be eliminated.
It is only by finding effective ways for eradicating and preventing violence against women that any given society can hope to achieve gender equality.

In recent years the Government of Norway has implemented a number of measures in order to eliminate and prevent violence against women. Providing financial support to the shelters in Norway is one such measure.

A further measure is the recent Plan of Action against Violence Against Women (1999), which aims at strengthening the work in this area. It focuses on raising the level of information and competence on violence against women at all levels by strengthening co-operation across sectors, as well as across research institutions.

History of the Shelter Movement in Norway

Violence against women as a societal problem was brought on to the socio-political agenda in Norway in the late 1970s. A group of Norwegian women attended a Tribunal on violence against women in Brussels, in 1976. Women from various parts of the world witnessed to the systematic violence they had experienced over several years at the hands of their husbands. On their return to Norway, the Norwegian women established, with the help of private funding, the first telephone line for battered women, in Oslo in 1977. During the course of that year, all the calls to the crisis telephone line were registered. Wife abuse in Norway was thus documented and taken up as an issue for public debate and placed on the political agenda.

The issue was taken up for debate in Parliament. Women from all the political parties saw the need for establishing shelters for battered women, and unanimously supported the call to ear-mark public funding for the running of these shelters. The first shelter with public funding was thus established in Oslo in 1978.

Soon local women’s groups in different parts of the country started opening shelters. These women’s groups constituted the unique and historic Shelter movement of Norway. Since 1980, the Movement grew with more shelters being started up. Today there are 50 shelters and 5 crisis telephones in Norway.

Ideological basis

The early shelter groups were anchored in a feminist ideology and saw wife abuse as resulting from the differences in power between men and women in society.

They were organized along non-hierarchical lines, that is, they had a flat organizational structure, with no leaders. This was the case, as they considered the hierarchical form of organizing to be an integral part of the power structures maintaining patriarchal society. All work and responsibilities were shared within the group on a rotational basis.

Since then, the shelters in Norway have developed along different lines and have taken on differing and varying organizational forms.
Today, the ideology and work of the shelter movement is anchored in their two-fold platform of work. They work both at the individual as well as at the societal level. The shelters help the individual woman seeking help, as well as work towards changing the power structures in society that perpetuate the oppression of women.

The shelters do not wish to treat the women seeking help as "sick" people needing cure. The "sickness", they wish to point out, lies in society and in its structures.

Financial basis

The women starting the first shelter demanded public funding for running the shelters. They argued that wife beating was a societal problem.

That it is the State’s responsibility to provide support services and shelter for battered women. Today all the shelters in Norway are based on public funding. The Local authorities pay 50% of the total budget and the Central government, through the Ministry for Children and Family Affairs, pays the remaining 50%.

What are the services offered by the shelters?

Shelters provide a safe place of refuge for battered women. Women who have experienced physical and / or psychological abuse may seek support and refuge at a shelter. Women seeking help may themselves decide if they wish to stay for a night or two, or over a longer period. They may also choose to just visit and speak to a shelter worker for a few hours, or only seek counseling over the telephone. Shelters work on the principle of help to self-help.

The services that the shelters offer are based on their two-fold platform of action.
Shelters provide:

A safe place of refuge for battered women and their children
Support and counseling
Support in meeting the social services, doctors, lawyers, housing authorities, and other services
A meeting ground for battered women to meet other women in similar situations

Shelters also work with influencing public opinion and changing societal attitudes. They do so by engaging actively in the public debate and in the media. They also provide information to other women’s organisations, to schools and the health and social services.

Shelters meet with new challenges continually. Shelters, therefore try to meet these challenges and keep updated on developments in society, by attending relevant seminars and conferences. They also organise courses and seminars for shelter workers. In recent years shelters have focused on improving the services for children.

Also, as there has been an increase in the number of immigrant women using the shelter services, shelters have tried to focus on the specific needs of these women.
In addition, shelters are presently working on improving and offering better services for women with disabilities.

Protection for battered and abused women

Battered and sexually abused women can be protected against the abuser trough the Criminal Procedure Act § 222a. A person can be prohibited from entering specific areas, follow after, visit or otherwise contact another person. This can be done if there is a specific reason to believe that the person will commit a criminal act against or otherwise violate the other person`s right to be left peacefully alone. The police can also offer the violence alarm for women who are treathened by violence – or have been attacked before. The alarm is connected to the police in order to ensure swift action by the police.
Victims of sex crimes and domestic violence are according to chapter 9a of the Criminal Procedure Act, entitled to the assistance of a lawyer. The lawyer shall be remunerated by the state, and is responsible for taking care of the interest of the victim in connection with the investigation and the main hearing of the case.

Contact

For more information please contact:
Tel: +47 23 01 03 41
Mob: +47 90 57 91 18
Fax: +47 23 01 03 01
E-mail: tsm@krisesenter.com