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Recession, surge in helpline calls, .... families break up and lost jobs

Published: Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Recession, surge in helpline calls, .... families break up and lost jobs

By Susan McKay, CEO of National Women's Council of Ireland

One day last week, in an Irish city, a woman met her husband's psychiatrist. The husband had been violent and abusive towards the woman throughout their marriage. He was attending the psychiatrist because of depression and addiction to gambling. He had recently lost his job. The psychiatrist said to the woman. "I hope you are not winding him up these days. He's under a lot of stress, you know." The woman knew, alright. She's been the main outlet for his frustration and rage for years.

She told a worker in the community women's group in her estate about this encounter. "She felt the psychiatrist was warning her that she would be responsible if he got worse or even if he got more violent," the worker told me. "Sadly, because the man also blames her for everything that is wrong in his life, she was half inclined to accept this. She is in the situation as well that because he has been made redundant, she is experiencing more violence just because he is around more. She no longer has the reprieve of his working hours."

Similar scenarios are being played out all around the country. Recession will not turn a decent man into one who is violent towards women and children, but a man who is already inclined to lash out at those who love and care for him is likely to become more dangerous when he comes under other pressures. Becoming unemployed is hugely stressful for individuals and for families. In the case of abusive men, it can have devastating consequences.

Domestic abusers try to control those around them. They may do so by using physical violence, including, often, sexual violence. They may do it by keeping all of the money that comes into the home. If such a man loses his job, he is liable to become aggressive about appropriating as much as possible of other sources of money in the household. That might mean the child benefit. If his wife or partner is now the main breadwinner, it may mean her wages. If she, too, has lost her job, or her working hours, the situation may be even more desperate as both of them are stuck at home and poverty and claustrophobia collide.

On any day in this country several hundred women and children flee dangerous men and seek refuge or support from services set up to respond to the problem of domestic violence, while others contact rape crisis centres to talk about the trauma they are experiencing because of sexual violence. The organisations set up to support these women and children, from advice centres which are part of community development projects, to advocacy projects, to refuges to counselling services, have noted dramatic increases in demand for what they offer in the past two years.

SAFE Ireland, which represents many of the refuges, has noted a 43% increase in the number of women seeking its help since 2007. "Some of this is because awareness is rising about the availability of help," says spokesperson, Caitriona Gleeson. "But some of it is certainly due to the recession."

This is a crisis which threatens to overwhelm services which entered into the recession already struggling because of historic underfunding. Niamh Wilson, manager of Domestic Violence Advocacy Services (DVAS) in Sligo, points out that while the boom years saw improvements in funding for the service organisations, many were still stretched to capacity. "Bear in mind that in some areas there are no refuges," she says. "There is no refuge at all in Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan or Monaghan. We know that this inhibits women from coming forward, because they already know there is nowhere for them to go."

Added to this, it is now harder for women to get rent supplement in order to move into private rented accommodation, and community welfare officers have little access to discretionary payments to deal with emergencies. Women in couples who were buying the family home may be trapped in negative equity or it may just be impossible to sell the house. Home becomes a trap. Family resource centres are over stretched. Community development projects are being shut down.

susan mckayLast weekend, 3 women came to DVAS urgently needing accommodation because of violence from a male partner. One was able to go to a friend's place, another got a place in a homeless hostel, and the other went home again. Most women do go home - many have to leave many times before they finally get the courage and self belief to move out permanently. The support offered in refuges is hugely beneficial.

Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive, which funds many of the services, is in the process of implementing billions of euros worth of cuts across the board. Violence against women services are included. According to SAFE Ireland, there have been cuts of 25% in the North East. Many services have had to cut staff, wages and programmes. Long waiting lists to see social workers are getting longer.

Women and children are at risk of trauma, injury and even death. This has happened in other places at similar times of economic crisis. It is not unexpected or inexplicable. So why is there no emergency response from the government? The government has, it must be acknowledged, set up a national office, COSC, to co-ordinate responses to gender based violence. Good foundations have been laid, and a national plan has been launched.

However, the funds available to COSC have already been substantially cut back. Women running services fear that there will be a push towards closing refuges in favour of "community support". They also fear speaking out critically. One manager said that an HSE official had recently said to her that he saw no reason why he should fund what he called 'a stick to beat us with.'

The brutal truth is that there is too much tolerance of violence against women, just as there is of other evidence of women's inequality in this country. Too many gardai when called out because a man has breached a barring order, fail to note that the man has also beaten his wife and wrecked the house. The man gets away with it. Too many women being urged to tiptoe around trying not to "wind up" violent men.

 

A copy of this article was printed in the Daily Mail