ABSTRACT
The refuge stands at the heart of the battered-women’s movement and is important for a variety of reasons. For the woman, it serves as a physical place where she can temporarily escape from violence, find safety and make decisions about her own life. Contact with other women helps overcome isolation and a sense of being the only one with a violent partner. For the movement, it provides the physical location from which to organize, and serves as a base for practical and political thought and action. Refuges vividly illustrate women’s continued dependence in marriage and economic disadvantage whereby they must rely on a man for the basic necessity of accommodation. It raises most powerfully the issue of women’s autonomy by illustrating so clearly their present state of dependence upon others: husband, family, the state or charity for the material basis of daily existence. Thus, the refuge itself becomes a fundamental means by which feminist politics is developed, sustained and rekindled within the context of the problem itself and in close contact with the daily lives of its sufferers. The refuge provides an almost unique opportunity for creating a change for women that not only assists women who have been battered but also stretches beyond those who seek refuge. The provision of a physical space so thoroughly enmeshed in the problem itself and in the lives of the women and refuge workers is unique for most social movements, and it is doubtful that a movement, rather than just a provision of service, could have developed or been sustained without it.
