The first maternity home was established in 1989 by Karitas, out of the need of women in the street who were pressing for solutions. It was based on voluntary work. Its activities started at the time when SOS and other help-lines (several NGOs) started to develop and as Karitas home was the only one in Slovenia, it was filled in one month and packed all the time during 8 years until other shelters began to open. In Slovenia a network of maternity homes (known location), safe houses (hidden address) and crisis centres (accessible at all hours of the day, but only as a temporary shelter) has been established in the last 25 years.

Legend: red dot: Maternity home, blue dot: Safe house, green dot: Crisis centre

Women in Slovenia have a special characteristic –in cases of violence they want to be in a safe place, but without having to move to another location (children would have to change school, friends, question of her employment).

While the maternity home in Ljubljana is packed, women don’t want to go to the maternity home which is only 12 km away at Škofljica.

Question: How to approach women who have lived in a violent environment for a long time, yet it is hard for them to leave perpetrator even if they suffer threats of murder. In such a case her child is given a possibilty to go to a special shelter in Grosuplje called Paličica (a Stick) to get out of the violent environment, at least temporarily.

These services are developing together with the legislaton  – with their programmes and experiences NGOs are now in position to educate the police and other governmental and NGO services related to combatting violence against women.

GERMANY.

Uta Krope: According to 2013 statistics, there are about 350 shelters in Germany and

40 special houses (crisis centres), so every major city offers a possibility for women who need protection against violence. A special law for protection against violence as part of common law  was adopted in 2011.

Various institutions have been in charge to develop educational programmes for those involved in combatting violence, the results are 14 elements of good practice, adopted by the Federal ministry.

Thise elements are:

1. Clear statutory basis for better intervention and better protection against violence.
2. Definition of domestic violence as the basis for institutional action.
3. Clear political will and action plans.
4. Establishing and applying guidelines, codes of good practice, training packs and leaflets for practical use.
5. Safety-oriented practice.
6. Special units in institutions to deal with cases of domestic violence.
7. Specific protection and support services tailored to the needs of victims of domestic violence.
8. Independent support services for children and adolescents living in the context of domestic violence.
9. Provision of behaviour modification programmes for perpetrators of violence.
10. Publicly available information about rights, intervention, protection and support possibilities in cases of domestic violence.
11. Institutionalisation of cooperation between institutions and agencies.
12. Developing and expanding skills – initial and inservice training and specialised units.
13. Documenting and monitoring processes of change and the implementation of new practice.
14. Evaluation of practice.

There is not one single solution to this problem, so cooperation between different services, agencies is essential. How the help is offered is very important.

For effective coordination of all who work together, their continuous training has to take place.

FINLAND.

Anna-Maija Sjöberg: In Finland, there is intensive cooperation between official and unofficial organisations. Proper legislation has been adopted.

There are several programmes dedicated to this topic, services within the unofficial system work well.With all the experiences in their field they give advice to police and other relevant services. Materials for their work is still in the course of preparation.

The police who are called to cases of domestic violence, are trained to deal with the situation in the family according to priorities– first the most “bloody thing” and later subtler ones.

On the official side, the following professions are in charge to deal with domestic violence (DV):

the police, social workers

Professional help is offered also in other institutions:

1. Child health centres,  which have existed in every village since the Second World War, include the question about domestic violence when examining a child.

2. School system includes services active regarding CV, it faces limited resources

3. Maternity homes (for homeless, abandoned women)

4. Shelter homes (we have one in Espoo) are facing harsher times because the government decided rather to give more help to families

5.. SOS telephone

6. Church (Lutheran 90 %, Russian Orthodox and Cratholic are the main ones) provides social workers, caretakers. There are programmes of family therapy where husbands are encouraged to participate together with their wives.

Violence started to be public concern specially in the last few years, since some family murders (not many) had large coveing in Finnish papers.

However, the constant question is how to reach all women that need help and this question has not been solved yet.

A note: Beating children is forbiden by the law.

Second discussion group lead by Raija Sollamo: INFORMAL HELP

Participants:    Edith Lommerse, Patricia Aden, Elisabeth de Sotelo, Elena Dingu-Kyrklund, Linus Kyrklund,

Alexandrina Niculescu, Alenka Marin, Karin Marin, Hedvika P. Kolman, Veronika Klemenčič

Finland, many NGO working in this field. However the institutional help – municipalities and institutions are not as comprehensive. An important one is a Womensline; SOS they promise to help very soon.  Example: An Afghan woman learned that according to Finnish Law violence is a reason for divorce and she sought help. The knowledge was important.  Another point is that we as citizens are not very competent to give help. It is dissapointing that very many relatives and friends close their eyes, they know it is there but close their eyes, women wait for someone to ask. Somehow they take up the courage to ask…

Elisabeth, Germany. Most informal help is where people live together. Most of the help is from their informal network, where they receive another vision of what is happening. The informal society network is not like the university women… they are working to become more organized, from conscience raising groups. To speak about everything what was in their lives.

Patricia: Doctors and nurses are important as women come to the hospital with injuries and they are waiting to be asked what’s wrong. It is important to make doctors and nurses aware and help with documentation. After the first recognition the victim is handed over to the counseling.  A friend can help better than a relative. A friend can ask more as she or he lacks the loyalty to the family.  Also important to have  a look at the mens’ position, that women can leave or a group can assist. For men a way to change the behaviour, how can we attack his behavior?

In Germany there are a lot of facilities for German women to go and find help. The biggest problem is migrant women as they don’t use the system that is there.

On primetime in Germany a film was on the television and after there was a discussion programme about the subject. Victim and certain views on this point shared the point.

In Germany, the legislation needs to be told especially to migrants so they know how it should work.

Dida: Romania is working in this field. A whole lot of problems the NGOs have major difficulties to cope with the neccessities in the field. They are now building NGO networks to cope with the difficulties including an SOS helpline. With the project they will publish a guide giving information, adresses and contact possibilities. They have now 20 organizations also including the National Womens Organization (Liliane Pagu). They hope that in this way they will be able to solve the problems. The state wants to support it, but they don’t have any money. Dida, the emmigrants from Romania create the problem elsewhere. In Romania the teachers are responsible for the class, it is voluntary to share the information and speak about it. It wasn’t succesfull.

It should be more in the media.

Elena: Sweden has a developed system of shelters. Sometimes the state pays and sometimes the NGOs.  Less NGOs help is paid for by the state, the role of NGOs is rather complimentary as the government pays (local or state).  Linus: The system is public, very few NGOs, Sweden doesn’t have many NGOs , no tradition. The money comes from the municipalities. Some are a bit hostile towards men. The problem is that the crime is not taken as seriously. Domestic Violence is a theme for both men and women. Also Gay lesbian, queer are sometimes more exposed to violence. It is getting more attention, needs to be part of the course. People should know where ever that they are not alone.

For Migrants women, a shelter for muslim women as they have major difficulties to admit they have a problem. A Muslim woman does not have the same kind of network, to help her.

The Netherlands, well equiped system of shelters and help. Women in the Netherlands are helped by the NGOs and churches a lot of the help is paid by the state. Neighbourhood courses for women and men. to become more assertive. Anonymous calling and doctors of trust to report on families with domestic violence and televison spots. Also violence against old people.

Romania, starting point is a friendly help from the people you trust. Very important to have that help. Question is how to help the victim. Especially if you know the family. Important that people know how to search for help and where to direct the victim to get institutional help. We have heard of cases where the situation is repeated… NGOs should help direct to help.

What to do if somebody does not want informal help, how to go about it. What can you do?

Alenka, Slovenia, first maternity house in our neighbourhood. But as an example a friend of my daughter is not in school anymore. Suddenly the boy was not in school, they were in a safe house. The man was in jail for a few days.. But now they are back together. She knows the husband from childhood, violence came from the women. They are now together again, the family seems to be working. For the problem that has arisen one needs to hear the two sides of the conflict.

Karin, I heard about the boy going to the women’s shelter. She did not know about the existence of shelters. It should be a more common topic in schools… Information how things are functioning and this could be a subject, what if things go wrong what is available, keep it on the curriculum.

 OVERVIEW.

Involvement in the state varies between countries, involvement of NGOs varies with it.

Suggestion is to involve pupils at secondary school and educate them as to what is available. Also media can play a significant role.  As we should also educate migrant women about the legislation.

Another basic question is to how the friends as family members are seen as too much part of the system and the prevailing loyalties,  can ask the vital question: are you okay, what is wrong and do you need help. That could prevent the escalation of domestic violence. Maybe that is also part of the outcome of the total project. So all participants dare to ask the question when they think a woman or man is subject to domestic violence.

Third discussion group, lead by Kaja Kosec, Zavod Za dialog (Institute For Dialogue):

YOUNG UNEMPLOYED EDUCATED WOMEN – IDENTIFYING PATHS TOWARDS SOLUTIONS

Participants:    Daniela Ringkamp, Sanna S. Bergholm, Roxana Petrescu, Sophie Arndt, Arne Kohrs, Tatiana Isoo, Bojana Kos Grabar, Ana Vrhovnik, Teja Rot

Introduction to the topic:

Conclusions of the Workshop Young Unemployed Educated Women: Identifying Paths towards the Solutions

We have discussed the following themes:

(1) problems of unemployment in relation to women,

(2) relations between unemployment and violence,

(3) what is violence,

(4) do educated women meet (domestic) violence and

(5) who is responsible in victimizing women.

The exposed themes had led us to the following questioning:

 Do men with the same education and/or profession get employed faster than women?

 In terms of unemployment is there discrimination going on?

 Employment brings loss of identity (essential issue)! Being unemployed is victimizing

 Is unemployment stigmatizing?

 Are we excluded because we are women? Are we excluded because we are educated? Are we excluded because we are young?

 When questioning unemployment on institutional and societal level who is responsible? Who is persecuting?

 Is violation happening? Where does violation start?

 Do we need a defence?

 Are we (women) victimizing ourselves?

 Role of media in victimizing?

We have come to various conclusions; such as there is much more violence present than we are aware of, not only in domestic scope but also in business setting. Unemployment is a big issue, not only in Slovenia but also in other European countries. We have noted that unemployment is a taboo topic and strongly affects one’s personality, yet since so many people are now unemployed, unemployment has become more accepted and easier to talk about.

Some have argued that educated women get jobs harder. At the same time question was raised, do we confront gender issue or some women are not professional enough. We also have argued that educated women have different perspective on employment and it is hard(er) for them to accept unemployment, because they have put much effort into the studies. Not getting a job downgrades their lives and disables them to be free and independent economically.

We have question due to vast unemployment issue, who is responsible and if unemployment is victimizing women then who is a perpetrator. In this line, we addressed the same questions to media, which is as we argued probably most influential and elusive perpetrator. As women we are under attack daily, all the images of perfection that are bestowed onto us are victimizing. We determined that family background is important in developing personality, especially at times when we face issues as unemployment and media manipulation/abuse. We have noted that it is important how woman perceives herself on psychological, social and economic sphere and what her expectations are as educated woman.

At the discussion we have concluded that topics and terms of unemployment and violence are complex and need much time to think them through. Also we have pointed out, that it would be valuable to have an empirical research to show whether or not there are links between unemployment and educated women and if there are links between domestic violence and unemployed educated women.

CONCLUSION:

The workshop ended with all three groups coming together and sharing their findings.