NCJ Number
163228
Date Published
1996
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The social change mission of shelters for battered women and the larger battered women's movement challenge the inevitability of abuse in women's lives by aiming to end it at all levels (cultural, institutional, and individual).
Abstract
The social change mission targets not only the most immediate causes of abuse, such as a partner's controlling and dangerous actions, but also sociostructural factors underlying and reinforcing abuse as a form of influence and control. For various groups of battered women, the social change mission can also be directed toward multiple jeopardies that shape particular forms of abuse, society's reactions to abuse, and available resources and opportunities for escaping abuse. Multiple jeopardy factors include the interaction of race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. The social change mission is important to the work of shelters for battered women in that they are often confronted by some of the same sociostructural and cultural obstacles faced by battered women themselves. Two general categories of such obstacles are discussed, institutional and community decisions and cultural values and beliefs. A national view of social action in battered women's organizations is presented that focuses on program goals and activities and social change initiatives of battered women's coalitions. The authors conclude that local battered women's organizations must find ways of hearing and representing the emerging and different voices of battered women so that social change will continue to be meaningful for all battered women. 35 references, 1 note, and 2 tables