A radical women’s politics: the light of innovation and new ways to organise

Abstract

Chapters 6 discuss the innovations in working with violence survivors and the new ways to organise which the domestic violence movement pioneered. They reflect on these radical, sometimes revolutionary, practices within the early refuges and the first domestic violence services in the UK, but elsewhere too. Some of these practices are no longer so prevalent, and the two chapters suggest that it is important to record them for the future while some of the women who made them are still with us. It is worth returning to, and learning from, their zeal and innovation. Chapter 6 documents the contributions of refuge, child support and outreach workers, the challenges of accepting funding, and the work of the ‘Support Group’, an informal collective form of a management committee. It discusses the radical notion of everyone involved, including the women using services, being members of the collective, and the brave challenges and successes of collective working. It debates women in the refuges having a say in decision-making and being eligible for jobs/careers, and radical employment practices for workers including women from working class backgrounds being offered greater job longevity. It outlines the collective regional and national organisation of Women’s Aid and refuges, in terms of spreading democratic decision-making.