Forgotten Subjects of Violence Against Women: Children in Women’s Shelters
Selda Taşdemir AfşarKadına Yönelik Şiddetin Unutulan Özneleri: Sığınmaevinde Kalan Çocuklar
Selda Taşdemir AfşarViolence is a social matter of fact that we face with at every stage of daily life. Violence against women and children, as one of the forms of violence, is a very important problem in Turkey as it is seen in many part of the world. In general, while each person has the right to have a life far away from violence, millions of women and children in the world are exposed to physical, sexual, economical and/or emotional forms of violence every year and particularly children have to witness violence. Children, who have to witness the violence against women as the subject of violence and who are sometimes exposed to various forms of violence, and their mothers take shelter in women’s shelters as an important instrument to intervene in violence against women. As it can be observed from women’s shelter practice, the interventions for prevention of violence against women and domestic violence are generally considered from the part of women and children and the individual who commits violence is usually excluded from those interventions. Because women and children are the people who are the most affected from the problem of violence. The children, who grow up in a violent environment and begin to stay in women’s shelters, move away from their own social environment, and are faced with various problems in their adulthood since they witness violence and/or experience violence. It is seen that the individuals who live in a violent environment as children may experience problems such as alcoholism, depression, drug addiction, suicide, aggression and also may be under risk as they may be the perpetrators or victims of domestic violence (Nadir, 2017). In addition, children are the ones who are in the worst situation in violent environments in every way. Children turn into mere objects and are rejected by their mothers and/or fathers, who consider them as the source of negative situations and problems, and as a result they are subjected to violence.
Women’s shelters are the temporarily living spaces for women who are exposed to domination of gender ideology in various forms and do not have the material and moral support for them and their children in order to struggle with this domination of gender ideology (Bayrakçeken-Tüzel ve Gediz-Gelegen, 2010, p. 44). This study aims to reveal the types of services and support programs (psychological, economical, health and education services, etc) provided for children staying in women’s shelters subjected to local administrations in Ankara and the qualifications of these provided services. In this scope, the in-depth interviews were made with 43 women staying in a women’s shelter by using semi-structured questionnaire forms. The goal-oriented method was followed in the selection of participants in the study. The women, who were exposed to violence and had been staying in women’s shelter for at least two weeks, were included in the study. The length of stay in women’s shelter was determined as an important criterion for selection of participants. The interviews lasted until any new and different was not obtained from the women who were interviewed. Also, the assessments of the staff working in the women’s shelter were included in order to have information about the support and services provided for children staying in the shelter.
After the theoretical background of questions of the research was presented and the existing condition was analysed by using various reports and similar literature, the assessments and experiences of the women staying in women’s shelter and the professionals working in women’s shelter related to the services and support provided for children were analysed.
It was determined as a result of this research that the children are the most affected by violence against women and become subjects of secondary abuse since they are exposed to the violence, witness it before moving to the shelter and have to listen to stories about violence when they stay in the shelter. The most important outcomes of this research are that the qualification of many services and support such as psychological, economical, health and education services for children in the women’s shelter in which the research was conducted is not sufficient, the women are prioritized and the children are the forgotten subjects in the women’s shelter. These insufficient support and services prevent children staying in this women’s shelter from showing their own potential. Because, experiencing or witnessing violence is a factor that affects many children at school such as their academic success and their relationships with peers or social environment and the risk/probability to become the perpetrators or victims of violence as adults in the future. In this study, it is considered that this barrier and risk condition is the ‘structural violence’ referred to by Galtung and violence against children, who are the forgotten subjects in women’s shelter, may be considered in this frame. In addition, there are very few studies and research conducted in Turkey related to the children who experience violence together with their mothers and who live in women’s shelters and the services provided for these children in women’s shelters. This study aims to pioneer for future studies in this very limited field of research, and to determine policies and practices to be developed for children staying in women’s shelters.
