Does the stay in women’s shelters contribute to their empowerment?

Abstract

This paper tries to look into the actual functioning of the Protection System for victims of gender violence, more concretely into how women´s shelters work.
Based on a qualitative approach, this research has been carried out through the analysis of experienced and qualified staff interviews: 18 professionals have been asked to evaluate the psychosocial intervention in these refugees for women victims of gender violence focusing on the empowerment perspective. This standpoint has been emphasized and considered as a main objective by most of therapeutic proposals for women who have suffered gender violence.
The 100% of interviewed people considers that residential resources for victims of gender violence provide protection and security. However, the 88.8% points out that the stay in these refugees does not contribute to their empowerment. They support this idea on different reasons: these resources are still based on an aid- oriented approach, the strict normative system and institutional control (this does not allow women to be independent and autonomous), the design of these community refugees restricts their privacy, the temporary nature of these resources defines the intervention and lastly, the fact, on the basis of the intervention, that victims have to leave their homes, and stay hidden and sheltered.