The NSW Women's Refuge Movement began in 1974 with the establishment of Elsie Refuge in Glebe, NSW. Other refuges were established throughout the 1970s, operating within a feminist framework and responding to the needs of women and children escaping

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

. At first, the refuges were developed through volunteer effort and without government funding. Gradually the government took over funding of the refuges, with the states funding the buildings and the federal government funding the running costs. The NSW Women's Refuge Movement continued to provide services to women with diverse needs and to raise awareness about domestic violence. However, meeting administrative costs continued to be a struggle and the NSW Women's Refuge Movement was effectively dismantled by the NSW Government's "Going Home, Staying Home" reforms in 2014. The majority of refuges were adapted to accommodate a range of homeless clients, which resulted in them being less suitable for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Existing services were put out to tender and the agencies who then undertook management were often religious charities who did not necessarily share the feminist framework originally established by the NSW Women's Refuge Movement.

Feminist beginnings

The first women's refuge in Australia was

Elsie Refuge The Elsie Refuge for women and children was a women's refuge set up in Glebe, Sydney in 1974. The project was the beginning of the NSW Women's Refuge Movement that responded to the needs of women and children escaping domestic violence by prov ...

which was started in the inner-Sydney suburb of

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

in March 1974 by a group of

Women's Liberation The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminism, feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resu ...

feminist activists including

Anne Summers Anne Summers (born 12 March 1945) is an Australian writer and columnist, best known as a leading feminist, editor and publisher. She was formerly First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Min ...

, Jennifer Dakers, Bessie Guthrie, Robyn Kemmis, Kris Melmouth, Margaret Power, Carol Baker, Diana Beaton, Christina Gibbeson and Trudy Brickwood. After months of unsuccessful approaches to government and private developers to secure premises, the women squatted illegally in two vacant houses in

. The project was the beginning of the NSW Women's Refuge Movement that responded to the needs of women and children escaping domestic violence by providing access to specialist accommodation and support services operating within a feminist framework. It followed the lead set in the United Kingdom where the first safe house for women and children escaping domestic violence was set up in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

, West London in 1971, which has since grown into the largest domestic violence organisation in the UK and is now known as Refuge. Throughout the 1970s in New South Wales other refuges were established, including Bonnie Women's Refuge in 1975,

Marrickville Women's Refuge Marrickville Women's Refuge, also known as Jean's Place, was a women's support facility formally opened in April 1976. It was one of the earliest refuges to open in New South Wales as part of the original NSW Women's Refuge Movement in response to ...

in 1976 (also known as the Aboriginal Women and Children's Crisis Service), Jenny's Place in 1977, the Women's Shelter Armidale in 1978 and Louisa Women's and Children's Services and Carrie's Place in 1979. By mid-1975, eleven women's refugees had been established by volunteers nationwide, initially without government funding. The movement initially oversaw the development of local refuges for women and children escaping domestic violence through the organisation of dedicated volunteers, but eventually government funding was provided by the

Whitlam government The Whitlam government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party. The government commenced when Labor defeated the McMahon government at the 1972 Australian federal elect ...

from 1975. The first national conference of women's refuges was held in 1978. In 1981 the

Fraser government The Fraser government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal–Country party coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983. Init ...

shifted responsibility for the continued funding of refuges to the states. Then in 1984 the federal government introduced the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP), which outlined that the states would supply the buildings and the federal government would supply the running costs. In the same year the NSW Women's Refuge Working Party received funding. In 1987 the NSW Women's Refuge Resource Centre (WRRC) was established to distribute information and resources and by the end of the 1990s it had produced a legal aid kit, an access and equity manual, a domestic violence magazine for national distribution and a state conference focusing on Aboriginal women's issues. The NSW Women's Refuge Movement provided services to women with diverse needs, including

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

women, women with disabilities and older women and also provided specialist children's programs. The NSW Women's Refuge Movement also played a key role in raising awareness about domestic violence and its social and financial impacts on individuals and the community.

"Going Home, Staying Home" reforms

However, meeting the administrative costs of the NSW Women's Refuge Movement continued to be a struggle and the movement was effectively dismantled by the NSW Government's 'Going Home, Staying Home' reforms in 2014 overseen by

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister for Social Housing,

Pru Goward Prudence Jane Goward (born 2 September 1952) is an Australian former politician and Liberal member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2007 to 2019, representing the seat of Goulburn. She was the New South Wales Minister for Fa ...

. The existing services were put out to tender and a raft of changes were introduced which undermined the sector's ability to provide specialist services to women and children escaping domestic violence. This seemed to reflect a global trend of cutting resources and funding to

women's shelter A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...

s despite the increasing demand. The majority of refuges were no longer operated as specialist services for the exclusive use of women and children escaping domestic violence but were instead required to accommodate a range of homeless clients, including those suffering from mental health and substance abuse issues and often including men. This resulted in the accommodation being less suitable for women and children fleeing domestic violence. The generic homelessness services provided under the ‘Going Home, Staying Home’ reforms were also more frequently staffed by workers who lacked the necessary specialised knowledge and training in domestic violence. Programs for children and Aboriginal women have also suffered. As a result of the tender process many of the women's refuges were put under the management of larger agencies, often religious charities. This resulted in a deconstruction of the feminist framework that underpinned the NSW Women's Refuge Movement, replaced largely by an incompatible agenda set by organisations actively engaged in promoting male leadership, the sanctity of marriage and restrictions on women's reproductive rights. The funding of perpetrator programs, safety at home and couples counselling has been prioritised in recent years over the maintenance of women's refuges and specialist women's support services. This has led to the call for a National Domestic Violence Funding Program by women's groups to ensure adequate funding of specialist women's refuges and services as opposed to having them subsumed within generic homelessness programs.

References

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Feminist beginnings

"Going Home, Staying Home" reforms

References

Further reading