The violence against women movements burst into life

Abstract

This chapter moves on to domestic violence. It discusses the new, challenging and radical movements which sprang out of women’s liberation, specifically to address sexual violence and domestic abuse. These movements, in the UK and internationally, stepped forward into the unknown. They began campaigning about domestic and other forms of violence against women in the early 1970s, and then developed the new idea of setting up specific women’s services. The chapter covers these unprecedented developments from the first glimmerings to the establishing of refuges, rape crisis centres and campaigns, and their subsequent evolution. Such services had never been seen before and they challenged the roots of men’s control over women. The chapter celebrates these stunningly brave developments led by dedicated women. It looks at the development of the Women’s Aid federations over time and the challenges mounted by Black women and the Black women’s movement. These resulted in the subsequent setting up of specialist projects for Black and minority women, e.g. the network of refuges for women of South Asian descent. The new women’s domestic violence services were passionate moves forward and the chapter charts their development into the 1980s.