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The headlines of 'Community Mirror' on the 16th October 1976
read "We're here to stay" - this summed up the feelings of the
Women's Aid Action Group who occupied 24 Pump Street, Derry.
The house had been a Salvation Army Hotel for men, but after
the removal of the latter to Riverview House in May 1975, had
been left vacant from 5th October 1976 on. 24 Pump Street was
to be the first Women's Aid Refuge west of the Bann.
Developments prior to the occupation are worth noting for the
sake of perspective. They date back to spring 1976, when an
extra-mural course on 'Women and Society', held in Magee University
College, gave rise to the Derry Socialist Women's Group. This
discussion group set itself the task of examining the position
of women in Derry - after a couple of months, however, it was
approached by people active in the community looking for action
that would highlight the plight of homeless women and their
children. A number of homeless women were introduced to the
group - their introduction resulting in 'Operation Desperation'.
Direct action became the order of the day with the launching
of 'Operation Desperation'
Over the previous 18 months the Clarendon Street Night Shelter
Committee (representing the Churches, N.S.P.C.C., the Samaritans,
The St. Vincent De Paul and other groups) had been negotiating
with the Western Area Health and Social Services Board to obtain
funding for night shelter facilities for women in the Derry
area - 'Operation Desperation' was an attempt to put pressure
on the Board to expedite developments. 63 Clarendon Street had
already been procured for use as the night shelter and a token
squat of the vacant building took place. This resulted in considerable
publicity and a meeting between representatives of the Night
Shelter Committee and the Derry Socialist Women's Group. The
latter favoured the provision of 24-hour accommodation, but
this was not seen as acceptable and/or feasible by the Clarendon
Street Committee. The conclusion therefore, of 'Operation Desperation'
was a decision that independent action would have to be taken
in order to provide the required 24-hour refuge facilities for
Derry.
With the coming of the summer considerable time and attention
was given to the examination of the position of Battered Women
and the possibilities of setting up a refuge in Derry. Research
was aided by Rosemary Cusack who worked with the Group and who
completed a project on Battered Wives for Magee University College.
In this she wrote that -
"The exact extent of the problems
of wife battering in Derry City would be impossible to determine
from the figures available in this project. However, the tip
of the iceberg could be gauged simply by adding the figures
given by the voluntary and statutory agents for 1975: five voluntary
workers - 21; one health visitor - 50; one social worker - 12;
three police stations - 30; personal contacts - 7; this makes
a total of one hundred with caution since in most cases they
are observational and would tend to grossly underestimate the
size of the problem. One can only conjecture what the figures
would be if all the agents of the statutory and voluntary bodies
produced their figures and if every case of wife battering in
the city was reported".
Action took the form of letters being dispatched to the Housing
Executive, Social Services and Estate Agents seeking vacant
property for use as a refuge, and in August a squat in a bricked
up house in Orchard Street. The latter, however, proved to be
structurally unsound and had to be vacated. Alongside the increased
Group activity, pressure was mounting with more battered women
being brought to the Group's attention. The project also attracted
the support of women outside the Derry Socialist Women's Group,
but who were active in the community and who were aware of the
need for a refuge. A survey was made of vacant property in the
city, and it was decided to occupy 24 Pump Street. Despite an
initial police warning the squat was maintained on a 24 - hour
basis and contact was established with Women's aid Groups in
Belfast and Coleraine.
It was decided that the Derry group, which for the purpose of
the squat has been called the Derry Women's Action group, should
adopt the aims of the National Women's Aid Federation, and become
known as Derry Women's Aid. It was under this title that the
Group opened negotiations with the Director of the Western Area
health and Social Services Board - these negotiations centreing
around the demand for legalisation and financial support.
The need for legalisation was made pressing by the fact of the
Emergency Provisions Legislation in Northern Ireland. This included
squatting in public buildings as on offence and left the two
women and two men who had made the initial squat open to prosecution.
Indeed information came back to the Group that there had been
pressure at parliamentary level to have such prosecutions brought
- this, however, did not materialise.
The refuge began to receive battered women and their children,
and was manned on a volunteer rota basis, gradually adopting
the format of Women's Aid Refuge - i.e. the 'no - men' rule,
collective decision - making and the 'self - help' principles.
Two members of the Derry Group travelled to a National Women's
Aid Federation Conference in November and contact was made with
the Women's Aid Refuge in Dublin.
Emphasis was always placed on the need for good relations with
all the Community based groups operating in the City. This was
borne out by the fact that the first action after the Pump Street
squat was notification sent to Community and Neighbourhood Groups
explaining the action taken and also requesting help and support.
The latter was forthcoming from a number of groups - with furniture,
clothing and finance being provided. Volunteers also took care
of repairing electricity and plumbing in Pump Street. Whilst,
support was such that any legal action taken against the squat
was decreed to failure, in terms of publicity and public sympathy,
this public support was to prove vital as the financing of the
project was dependant on donations and frequent pub collections.
The weekend Women's Aid collection became a familiar sight in
Derry's pubs.
Over the eight month period of their operation some 90 women
and 300 children were accommodated in Pump Street, thus dispelling
the assumption that there were no battered wives in Derry. Although
many of them came from both Protestant and Catholic communities
in the City itself, others came from as far away as Dungannon
and Ballycastle. Nobody was turned away from the Refuge despite
severe overcrowding at times and inadequate facilities. The
latter were due to the fact that 24 Pump Street has previously
been used as offices and hence lacked bathrooms, adequate kitchens,
etc.
With the increasing number of women using the Refuge it was
decided in mid - November 1976 to end the 24- hour rota arrangement
and replace it with a less regulated attendance of volunteers.
It was felt by the Support Group (from which the volunteers
were drawn) that this would put into practice the principle
of communal self-help on which the refuge was being run. Two
aspects were involved in this approach:
- The idea of self-help as increasing the independence of the
women; and
- The element of community which would hopefully offer support
in times of need.
While this approach was relatively successful - with house meetings
once a week for everybody connected with the refuge - new needs
became increasingly apparent. As women moved out - either returning
home or through re-housing - the need for continuity in the
refuge was highlighted, particularly in the cases of those women
who were coming back to the refuge for a second or a third time.
The pressure of specialised work needed in areas of legal questions,
housing and social security also increased. As did the need
for a Play Leader.
While members of the Support Group did provide a certain degree
of continuity, their energies became concentrated in the fields
of fundraising and maintenance of the House. Continuity was
also provided by long-term residents in the refuge, but this
was not considered adequate.
In January the Young Help Scheme provided a Youth Worker for
the refuge. While this relieved some of the pressure of work
from the volunteers, his area of activity was limited due to
the lack of finance. The Youth Worker found much of his time
being taken up by answering the telephone, the door, etc. hence
the Support Group decided that it was again necessary to organise
a rota of volunteers on a rather stricter basis. This was to
answer the priority of having somebody in constant attendance
to ensure that all calls of distress were noted and adequately
dealt with. Due to the size of the house and the demands of
their families it seemed unfair that this work should be left
to the residents - although they were willing to help out. Equally
it was felt that more of an effort should be put into allowing
the Youth Worker to fulfil his original role.
Out of this trial period came the decision that a full-time
refuge worker was needed to work alongside the volunteers and
residents - with the overall responsibility for the refuge remaining
with Derry Women's Aid. The House meetings, one night per week,
would include residents, volunteers and worker and would co-ordinate
activities.
Negotiations with the Western Area Board proceeded space, resulting
in legalisation on the basis of 1p per year rent for the building
and a £15,000 grant to renovate and restructure the refuge.
Payment of a full-time worker was also agreed. In relation to
the running costs of the refuge parallel negotiations were opened
with supplementary benefits, which concluded with the granting
of a £7 per week rent allowance to each woman in the refuge
and £1 for each child. Despite these arrangements adequate
finance was still to be dependant on collections and donations.
In the light of experience it was decided to set up facilities
for the children of the refuge - and in this endeavour approaches
were made to Save the Children Fund. A combination of the latter,
the Western health and Social Services Board and the Clarendon
Street Night Shelter (which had since opened) resulted in a
Play Group for the 3-5 year olds and a Play Centre for the 5-10
year olds. A part-time play leader for the older children was
also appointed in co-operation with the Western Education and
Library Board. The area of child care invariably proved to be
a particularly difficult one for Women's Aid, with the N.S.P.C.C.
in Essex having set up an Action Research Project to examine
the affect of violent family back grounds on children. Certainly
the Derry experience illustrated the damage done to adolescent
boys, who very often showed early sings of violent behaviour
themselves - with pent-up feelings and easily roused tempers.
In many cases truancy was to prove a troublesome, if understandable
problem - as was the need for personal assertion which could
lead to situations of conflict in a communal living situation.
Life in the refuge was to prove difficult for more than adolescent
children as women accustomed to nuclear family situations were
exposed t having to share out limited kitchen and bathroom facilities
with other families. Without constant attention the combination
of tension, depression and uncertainty could lead to flare-ups
over apparently petty irritations. As Cathy Harkin, the full-time
refuge worker was to point out -
"…. for any
woman who chooses voluntarily to leave her home and come into
a Centre, well, the situation at home has to be bad."
An attempt to understand refuge life can be gained from reading
the Day Book that has been kept since the initial squat.
In January 1978 the Derry refuge re-opened after being closed
for repair. It opened, however, with the awareness of the exact
extent of wife battering in both Derry and Northern Ireland.
In order to extend this knowledge it decided on a programme
of education - both in practical terms of one-to-one information
provision and in more general terms of addressing meetings,
showing relevant films and setting up Support Groups.
The practical help resulted in the opening of a Women's Advice
Centre in 24 Pump Street. This dealt with problems of social
security, family planning, leaving, etc. as well as legal issues
and direct battering. Unlike the refuge where residents tend
to be working class in composition, the Advice Centre has catered
for women drawn from every social category.
Support Groups in areas without a Women's Aid refuge are also
encouraged to set up Advice Centres - such a Support Group being
recently established in Strabane.
The advice work of Women's Aid in Derry has involved the Group
in Housing Action and encouragement of Claimants' Action. Many
of the Women's Aid volunteers had on-going experience in these
fields in any case, so the emphasis on the female perspective
was not to prove difficult for them. A supervisory role was
also adopted by Women's Aid to the work of Doctors, Lawyers
and Police in relation to their attitudes and handling of women's
cases.
In response to the needs of women who were separated, re-housed
and had left the refuge it was decided that work should be invested
in the setting up of single parent family groups to which women
could be referred for support on leaving the refuge it was found
that after the initial decision to leave the husband that departing
from the refuge could be extremely traumatic for both women
and children. Despite the fact that every effort was made, to
prevent women from becoming dependent on Women's Aid. Independent
initiatives in Creggan had set up a single parent family group
in the area in 1977, since that time Women's Aid co-operated
with the Creggan Group and sought to repeat the exercise in
other areas of Derry. One of the most striking facts to emerge
was the sheer numbers of one parent families in the city.
In recognition of the fifth aim of the National Women's Aid
Federation -
"To educate and inform the public, the media,
the police, the courts, social services and other authorities
with respect to the battering of women, mindful of the fact
that this is a result of the general position of women in our
society."
Derry Women's Aid has never been reticent in adopting cases
which highlight the general position of women in Derry society.
In pursuit of this it made public not of International Women's
Day 1977 with slogans and leaflets, while it has resorted to
Street Theatre and posters at other times - sometimes under
its own name and on other occasions adopting relevant titles.
Issues have been taken up that were often first brought to attention
through the Refuge or the Advice Centre - these include incest
and rape, both of which are receiving increased notice as a
result of being not infrequently reported.
The implications of Women's Aid for Derry then would seem to
be far greater than the mere provision of temporary accommodation
for battered women and their children - vital in itself though
that is. Women's Aid is a direct challenge to the attitudes
towards women held in a male-dominated society. How have the
Derry men reacted? Again citing an interview with the refuge
worker - a lot of men sees the refuge as a threat according
to Cathy. Because of that they ridicule it and make jokes. When
she's done e.g. pub collections to help towards the expense
she's had to get herself into the 'right mental state' - block
everything else out and concentrate on the collection.
"My god, the old clichés and jokes fairly comes out then
- things like a good slap around the ear never killed anyone!
- My answer to that is 'No Human Being deserves to be beaten'."
Predictably enough the aspect of Women's Aid that has perhaps
stirred up the greatest male antagonism was the 'No Men' rule
in the refuge itself. This is one of the few rules that Women's
aid stands firm on.
In passing, however, it might be noted that Derry Women's aid
has been attacked for more than permission. The range of critics,
have reached from Unionist Councillors to Left Wing groupings.
One of the latter commenting on the involvement of the Derry
Socialist Women's Group in Women's Aid wrote -
"Unfortunately,
through being dominated by a number of politically unstable
elements, Liberals and feminists, the group's inherence and
adherence to political principles began to crumble under the
pressure of its intervention. The group while maintaining a
strident permission in words capitulated totally to the worst
of charity work - in effect divorcing the needs of women from
the whole political economic framework of capitalism."
As against such assertions Women's Aid continued to assert its
consciousness - raising role, especially among women, where
the latter could establish that they has experiences in common,
and that individuals were not 'deviant cases' to be dealt with
by a series of 'professionals' - social workers, doctors, priests/ministers,
lawyers, psychiatrists, etc.
It is this consciousness - raising role - which Women's Aid
values so highly, that is perhaps the most gradual development
that must be faced. In combination, however, with attacks on
structured inequalities and regressive attitudes the Women's
Aid Movement have promised to have an even greater impact on
Derry society.
It is by reflection in the position of women in that society,
attempting to make that reflection general knowledge and taking
action where it is demanded that Women's Aid were the extreme
individual cases with which it comes in contact to combat the
more convert attitudes and expectations that lay the ground
for violence to women.
The records from the Derry Women's Aid Refuge itself show that
it has broken down sectarian barriers; that it has catered for
women of all age groups and social standing and that it has
come into close contact with women who have been oppressed by
men - (women as such rather than any particular category). On
the other hand, the Group has managed a successful squat irrespective
of Emergency Provisions Legislation, has highlighted legal and
social injustices through such campaigns as the Free Noreen
Winchester Petition and the single parent family groups; and
has been active in supporting housing agitations and other community
based issues. This is the practical aspect of the structural
feminist approach of Women's Aid - challenging the class-rooted,
male-dominated structures of existing society, by a method that
emphasizes mass-action rather than a 'purist elitism'. Repeating
the assertion by the N.W.A.F office collective -
"We
believe that real revolutionary change must come from a broad
base of anger at society and a willingness to change."
"I thought I saw two persons coming down
the road but it was only a man and his wife." - Russian proverb
Although battered woman have been noted for centuries was done
to alleviate their plight. Indeed in many cases that plight
was made worse by the individualistic interpretations of the
reasons for battering provided by the 'experts'. The result
was often a sense of shame and failure - augmented by the attitudes
of society which refused to allow the family unit to be challenged
in any way.
In 1971, Erin Pizzy publicized yet again the existence of battered
women and their children, but a major movement did not emerge
until 1975 when the National Women's Aid Federation was set
up. This arose out of the experience of groups operating refuges
and encouraged a detailed examination of male violence as a
means of controlling women. The structural feminist perspective
that resulted has marked a major advance in providing a framework
for action.
With the establishment of the Northern Ireland Women's Aid Federation
local groups in the region joined in their campaign to highlight
the condition of women on the home front. The cornerstone of
the campaign was the provision of Refuges and Women's Advice
Centres - but it was to spread beyond this to such issues that
affected women at a more general level. The fact that there
are a few broadly based or active women's groups in Northern
Ireland means that even more work falls on the Women's aid movement.
In Derry, women's Aid has been intimately involved in the field
of community action. It has sought to support the radical community
elements who are looking for social change in society and are
not content with a 'Father Christmas' role of running children's
parties, etc. The combination of forward looking community activities
and those involved in the Women's Movement could well be a powerful
one - particularly in a region that is experiencing rapid political
upheaval. |
