Louisa L
There was one
sign for each murdered woman. Twenty in all, one for every woman murdered in Australia since the beginning of
the year. They sent a stark message to bystanders at Sydney's International
Women's Day rally on March 14.
Addressing
the crowd, Dr Anne Summers spoke of “a crime wave of domestic violence”.
Dr Summers
was one of a group of women who in 1974 established Elsie, the world's first
refuge run for women by women. That action was an incredible act of
empowerment, for those who led and staffed it, those who sought its services,
and those who were inspired by it to follow in its footsteps. The women who set
up Elsie didn't wait for help. They saw a desperate need, and marched in to
occupy an empty Department of Housing building in inner city Glebe.
Elsie has
stood as symbol of the empowerment of ordinary women for decades. For that very
reason, Elsie and other refuges and services like it, are a threat to corporations
that want all power to reside in their own hands.
So in 2014,
its fortieth anniversary, Elsie Women's Refuge was handed to St Vincent de Paul
Society following the introduction of the NSW Government's cutely named 'Going
Home Staying Home' competitive tendering policy on homelessness.
Eighty
women-operated refuges defunded
According to
WEL, Women's Electoral Lobby, “The NSW Government's competitive tenders have
destroyed women's refuges, favouring large-scale charities over smaller,
specialist women's services.” Eighty women-operated refuges have been
defunded.
While St
Vinnies and its leaders now do many good things, they have never dared do what
that group of women did. In '74 charity was generally disempowering and often
humiliating. What these women did was an assertion of human rights, not
charity. Its danger to the ruling class was that it showed, in a small way,
that ordinary people could build a better world when they took matters into
their own hands.
WEL states,
“One woman in Australia dies every week as a result of violence committed by
their current or former partner...Every week hundreds of women and children
flee their home to escape domestic violence.”
On February
15 Australian of the Year, Rose Batty, spoke out. “ Domestic violence services
must be staffed by specialists who understand the gendered nature and
complexities of domestic violence. The NSW Government reforms need to be
revisited.”
According to
Michelle Hoogesteger, from 'No Shelter', speaking last August at a rally
outside Elsie, Elsie's staff, trained in the specific issues facing women, have
been replaced by those trained in “generalist homelessness”. According to Alt
Media, Ms Hoogesteger highlighted the danger of allowing
men and women to be housed in the same generalist services, when many women and
children using these services were doing so to escape domestic violence.
Meanwhile,
the Abbott government has also cut $240 million from community sector women's
services which provided help including legal support, financial counselling,
emergency relief of food and clothing, all essential to women and children
experiencing domestic violence.
“We have a voice!”
At the
Women's Day rally, Natalie Lane of the Australian Services Union slammed a
system run by “nice guys and experts”. She spoke of being ready to deal with
“thinly veiled devastation”. She made clear that once the new disempowering
system was in place, it would be easy for corporations to take over.
She spoke of
a system based on collaboration replaced by one allowing businesses to make
profits from vulnerable women.
Rather than
disappearing, the struggle is growing. “We have a voice,” Ms Lane said. “Our
voice is not for sale.”
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