Allowing longer stays at shelters would help abused women recover and thrive — study

For many abused women, shelters are the only places where they can take refuge when they escape their abusers.

But new research by a Stellenbosch University graduate suggests that stringent guidelines and funding policies at some centres may inadvertently force these women back to their abusers as they can only stay for a limited period, not long enough to empower them post-abuse.

A comparison between two women's shelters — one funded by the state and one funded privately — found that while those financed through the public purse are likely to help a greater number of abused women, the limited time often means they leave without securing jobs, accommodation and forcing them either into inadequate housing or back to their abusers.

This created a revolving door of abuse, according to Leandri Minnie, who recently obtained her master’s in political science at Stellenbosch.

As part of her study, she compared the resource and service provision at a government-funded shelter with a privately-funded shelter in Cape Town to determine the differences in empowering survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and intimate partner violence (IPV).

Interviews with managers and social workers revealed that to remain eligible for funding, state-funded shelters must adhere to set guidelines. On the other hand, the privately funded shelters are likely to have more flexible requirements.

“Women at state facilities are usually allowed to stay for three to four months, unless the social worker can make a case for an exemption. Because they don’t stay long, many women leave the shelter without a life strategy that could potentially help them to better their lives and keep them from being revictimised,” said Minnie.

“Most of the women end up living in shacks in someone’s backyard because there is no government-funded programme that can help them find suitable accommodation or a job. Because of insufficient funding and limitations on the time women can stay, these shelters find it difficult to empower women psychologically and financially.”

Minnie pointed out that the board of directors at the private shelter established flexible guidelines that allow women to stay longer.

“Usually, women stay until they find suitable housing and stable employment. This can be for three to six months. However, during the height of the pandemic and the subsequent unpredictability of the job market, they were allowed to stay for eight months to a year.

“Women at the shelter are also supported financially to pay the deposit for an apartment or house they want to rent,” she said.

Both shelters surveyed provided accommodation, food, toiletries, hygiene products, counselling, parental training, skills development, employment, and legal and medical services.

While the government-funded facility provided women access to computers to try to find employment, help them create or update their CVs and prepare them for job interviews, the private shelter used a recruitment agency.

“These shelters help women regain their self-worth and independence by giving them the opportunity to choose not to return to their abusive partner. They help women reconnect with friends and family through counselling, which gives them a support system that can ease their transition into their new lives.”

In her research, Minnie called on the government to amend the limitation on the time abused women can stay at state-funded shelters.

While staff and social workers at the state shelter “did their absolute best to help women who had been abused, they face limitations”.

“Most learning programmes these women enter take at least six months, but they can only be at the shelter for four months. This means that some leave without completing such programmes. Telling them to go home earlier is not helping ... it’s disheartening, because how much change can be made in a quarter of a year?”

“Government should also implement a more diverse victim empowerment programme that can help these women become financially independent and have suitable accommodation to completely break free from abusive relationships.”

But it doesn't just end with shelters, Minnie said. “Shelters are symptoms of a societal disease. The disease is gender-based and domestic violence. That does not start at a shelter. A shelter is where you ultimately end up. So prevention should also be one of the things the government should look at and not just trying to solve the problem.

“There should be more investment in prevention of generational violence, where boys and men are taught what a healthy relationship looks like and what it means to be in a respectful relationship with a woman.”

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