"Kvinne, bryt ikke sammen, bryt ut". Vold mot kvinner og krisesenterbevegelsen i Norge, 1945-2009

Abstract

The master thesis aim is to analyse how the Norwegian Women’s shelter movement changed how the society handled violence against women. The Women’s Shelter Movement started as a part of the feminist movement in the 1970’s and developed into an independent movement. The movement started after the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women in 1976 in Brussels. Over 2000 women attended the tribunal from the women’s movement. The Norwegian feminists who attended initiated a crisis centre group when they returned home. In 1978 the first shelter for battered women was opened in Oslo. In the following years numerous women’s shelter opened across several cities and towns in Norway. These shelters aimed at helping battered women who found themselves in an acute crisis, by providing shelter and protection. They also had a political ambition, and worked against patriarchal structures in which they viewed as the underlying cause to violence against women. Volunteers started the Women’s shelter, and the economical support from the government was scarce. Some politicians met the Women’s shelter movement with ridicule. Gradually they gained more support from politicians and society in general. From 1981 the Women’s shelter was provided economical support from the government budget. The Women’s shelter movement's ideology was a manifestation of the feminist aim to politicize matters that was viewed as private. In 2009 the so-called Women’s shelter law was announced. The law acknowledged that violence against women was a serious social problem and that the public needed to take action. This was a huge victory for the Women’s shelter movement. At the same time the law was gender neutral, which stands in contrast to the Movement’s explicit focus on gender based violence against women.