The History of Battered Women.
Last edited Tue Sep 9, 2014, 09:03 PM - Edit history (1)
Note that it wasn't until the late 1960s/early 1970s that domestic violence was approached with any attempt to address a centuries old violation as important enough to warrent revolutionary change,mostly at the insistence of the 2nd wave Women's Movement.I'm only including the decades from the 1940s to the 1970s because it deals with great strides and it created a sea change in the way we think about domestic violence,not that certain improvments didn't come before this period.The whole history is provided at the link.
1945
A California statute states, “Any husband who willfully inflicts upon his wife corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition, and any person who willfully inflicts upon any child any cruel and inhumane corporal punishments or injury resulting in a traumatic condition, is guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 10 years or in the county jail for not more than 1 year.” A San Jose Superior Court Judge, Eugene Premo, dismisses murder charges against a husband accused of murdering his wife. The judge rules that the California wife-abuse law discriminates on the basis of sex by only making mention of husbands, and is unconstitutional.
1950′s &1960′s
The civil rights, anti-war and black liberation movements challenge the country, laying a foundation for the feminist movement.
Women being killed by abusive husbands is rarely recognized for what it is. Headlines often read “Husband Goes Berserk and Shoots Estranged Wife.”
1960′s
By making a coalition with Al-Anon programs, Rainbow Retreat (Phoenix, AZ) and Haven House (Pasadena, CA founded in 1964) are treating battered women married to alcoholic men. Between 1964 and 1972, Haven House shelters over 1,000 women and children.
The criminal justice system conceives of crisis intervention as a human program to aid police, courts, and victims. Arrest is inappropriate for solving the complex social and psychological problems demonstrated in these “family squabbles.” Police officers become counselor and mediators trained in the skills of crisis intervention. Couples can then be referred to the appropriate social or psychiatric agency. By the time the battered women’s movement develops, family courts and psychiatric and social work approaches reduce these criminal assaults to problems of individual or social pathology.
1962
In New York, domestic violence cases are transferred from Criminal Court to Family Court where only civil procedures apply. The husband never faces the harsher penalties he would suffer if found guilty in Criminal Court for assaulting a stranger.
1963
Betty Friedan authors The Feminine Mystique. It captures the discontent of a whole generation of middle class women who are struggling between aspirations for fulfillment and an ideology that assigns them to the home.
1964
An article in the Archives of General Psychiatry written by Snell, Rosenwald, and Robey suggests that battered wives are like the wives of alcoholics, and that these wives have a masochistic need that their husbands’ aggression fulfills.
1965
Congress passes laws prohibiting discrimination against women in employment and requiring equal pay for equal work. The traditional marriage contract, however, remains legally intact in America. 4
1966 Beating, as cruel and inhumane treatment, becomes grounds for divorce in New York, but the plaintiff must establish that a “sufficient” number of beatings have taken place.
A study in Chicago reveals that from September 1965 to March 1966, 46.1% of the major crimes perpetrated against women took place in the home. It also found that police response to domestic disturbance calls exceeded total response for murder, rape, aggravated assault, and other service crimes. 4
Every state except Hawaii has passed child abuse report laws.
1967
The state of Maine opens one of the first shelters in the United States.
1968
The Harris poll interviews 1,176 American adults in October. They find that 1/5 approve of slapping one’s spouse on “appropriate occasions.”
1969
California adopts a no-fault divorce law by which either partner can request and obtain a divorce without fear of being contested by the other party.
Late 1960′s
The killing of a wife, sister, or mother by a man upholding his “male honor” is made a serious offense in Italy. 5
Late 1960′s & Early 1970′s
Feminism develps into two major branches, a women’s rights feminism like NOW, and a women’s liberation movement exemplified by socialist feminist and radical feminist groups. The women’s liberation movement, by claiming that what goes on in the privacy of people’s homes is deeply political, sets the stage for the battered women’s movement. The emerging movement details the conditions of daily life that allow women to call themselves battered. Women’s hotlines and crisis centers provide a context for battered women to speak out and seek help.
The feminist movement emphasizes egalitarianism and participatory oranizational models. In feminist shelters, women create a new morality that is in direct contrast to the competitive, male-dominated organizations and bureaucracies surrounding them. Women are inspired and sustained by their relationshps with others, by knowing that their work is crucial and by the feminist process within the shelters. As shelters grow, structural questions arise. Some choose to work collectively, others organize around a hierarchial structure, while still others adopt modified collectives or hierarchies.
As more and more shelters and programs receive welfare or Title XX monies, staff workers slowly start to call battered women “clients.” Greater attention is given to individual counseling for women and less on group sharing, peer support and teaching battered women to advocate for one another. Social change is discouraged, and Title XX funding can be used only for services, not community education. Clashes between the movement and funding agencies which want programs to respond like other service organizations, sap much energy for serveral years.
Early 1970′s
References to male violence in the family are made in several women’s liberation anthologies, such as Sisterhood is Powerful (1970) and Voices from Women’s Liberation. Neither of these two anthologies contains articles on rape. The anti-rape movement emerges a couple of years later.
In Chicago, like many other cities, married battered women who leave their husbands are denied welfare due to their husbands’ income.
NOW organizes more than 300 local and state rape task forces.
Chicago Women Against Rape forms. 5
Scotland and Iran make wife-beating illegal. 5
1970′s
“We will not be beaten” becomes the mantra of women across the country organizing to end domestic violence. A grassroots organizing effort begins, transforming public consciousness and women’s lives. The common belief within the movement is that women face brutality from their husbands and indifference from social institutions.
The Richmond, CA police department is the first in the nation to make domestic crisis intervention training part of its in-service training, and the first to train all of its police officers. This program operates without federal or state funding. In contrast, Oakland police department has only four officers who are trained to “man family crisis cars” and beome more psychologically sensitive to domestic violence.
The family crisis intervention unit of Hayward, CA Police Department hires mental health professionals to accompany them on family crisis calls and to provide onging family counseling. The program, Project Outreach, uses unmarked police cars and operates from 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Fridays through Sundays. By 1976 all officers have been trained in domestic violence. Repeat calls decreased by 27% and total calls by 22%.
In Tokyo, Japan a group of feminists is on the alert for situations where women are victimized by men. They march into the offices of the perpetrators wearing pink hemets, carrying placards that read “We will not condone the tyranny of the husband.” If the man is there, they will shout at him through bullhorns for all to hear. If he is not there, they will demand that the company executives justify why they hired such a “heel.” The group believes that the tactics work because the men loose face
1970
A study shows that police in Oakland, CA responded to more than 16,000 family disturbance calls during a six-month period
The index of the Journal of Marriage and the Family includes a reference to “violence.” None existed from 1939 to present.
1971
Women’s Advocates in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN is among the first groups to develop from a woman’s consciousness raising group. The organization is built on a collective, rather than a hierarchical model – all the way to the Board of Directors which includes staff and ex-shelter residents.
The group’s first project is a legal information service in the County Legal Aid office started in March 1972.
In Philadelphia, one of the first feminist self-help groups, Women in Transition, forms. They provide services for divorced or separated women, battered wives and single mothers.
The Bay Area Women Against Rape forms in California to provide support to rape victims and combat their “criminal” treatment in the legal system.
Approximately 1/3 of female homicide victims in California are killed by their husbands.
In Kansas City, MO, 40% of all homicides are cases of spouse killing. In almost 50% of the cases, police had been summoned five or more times within a two-year period before the homicide took place. 4
New York Radical Feminists hold a speakout and conference on rape.
Susan Griffin authors Rape – The All-American Crime. It breaks the silence of terror and shame, and articulates a theory that rape is an act of aggression.
Erin Prizzey establishes an “advice center” in London where women and their children come together and meet their peers, escape loneliness and discuss mutual issues. This center develops into Chiswick Women’s Aid, also known as the Battered Wives’ center.
1971 Copenhagen’s first shelter, Kvindehuset (The Women’s House), is opened by the Red Stockings, the Danish Women’s Liberation organization.
1972
The Center for Women Policy Studies is founded to identify, analyze and propose solutions to problems related to the status of women.
Joyce N. Ruiz files suit against the police in Sacramento, CA charging that they had refused to enforce a court order against her estranged husband. The suit is designed to require the police to enforce the law, but the case was dismissed.
The San Jose Police Department is sued on behalf of Ruth Bunnell for wrongful death due to police negligence. Ruth called the police requesting assistance but was refused. Ruth’s husband killed her. In the year prior to her death, she called the police 29 times complaining about the violent acts her ex-husband committed against her and her daughters.
In June, the first emergency rape crisis line opens in Washington, D.C.
In Kansas City, MO, police receive 46,137 domestic disturbance calls, 82% of the total calls for that year.
James Bannon, Commander of the Detroit police department, describes how 4,600 battered women’s cases “disappeared” as they moved through the criminal justice system in Detroit. Only 300 cases went to trial.
Haven House, a shelter in Pasadena, CA, is the first to receive a government contract.
Rainbow Retreat, one of the earliest battered women’s shelters, opens in Phoenix, AZ.
In February, Women’s Advocates (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) moves to a 1 bedroom apartment to offer minimal shelter services. In 1974, they expand and purchase a house.
Informal networks between women convey information, strategies, and support. Friendships among women from Carbondale, IL and Pittsburgh influence the founding of the Pittsburgh women’s center. 5Pittsburgh’s Women’s Center South begins in the home of Ellen Berliner. A shelter opens in April 1974.
The July issue of Ms. Magazine reports in the “No Comment” section an ad for a bowling alley in Michigan, which reads “Have some fun. Beat your wife tonight. Then celebrate with some good food and drink with your friends.”
From 1968 to 1973, the crime of rape increased 62% nationwide.
Interval House, Toronto’s first refuge house, opens. Transition House, Vancouver’s first refuge house, opens in January 1974.
1973-1974
Of the several thousand domestic violence cases proceeding through the Bureau of Family Relations of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, only 8 lead to a formal complaint and prosecution. 4
Al-Anon members who are battered women organize a shelter in Harrisburg, PA.
1974
The term “battered women” is still not a part of the public’s vocabulary. Writings on battered women are becoming less overtly hostile, but are still riddled with sexism.
Transition House in Boston is founded by two ex-battered women, Chris Womendez and Cherie Jimenez and two former members of Cell 16 (one of Boston’s earliest radical feminist groups), Betsy Warrior and Lisa Leghorn. Womendez and Jimenez simply declare their home a shelter. With their foundation in the women’s movement, the founders believe that battering is an integral part of women’s oppression; women’s liberation its solution. It continued to operate as a collective structure and maintain its grassroots principles. 5However, it gained little funding and eventually closed.
In San Francisco, 25% of all murders involve legally married or cohabitating mates.
Out of a recognition of the lack of services for Latina Women and the absence of Latina controlled organizations, a multi-racial group of women in Boston’s South End funds Casa Myrna Vazquez shelter. Later, after becoming a technical assistance center, Cassa Myrna Vazquez produces Doing Community Outreach to Third World Women.
In California, battered women are able to legally claim compensation for their injuries.
Haven House provides the country’s first Children’s Program.
Rainbow Retreat establishes an outpatient program to offer counseling to women not ready to leave. 4
Columbus, OH has a Night Prosecutor Program funded by the LEAA. The program offers 24-hour service focusing on pre-arrest diversion tactics. The purpose is to avoid costly arrest and persecution procedures. In the first year, only 2% of the 3,626 complaints result in criminal charges. The emphasis is on mediation to avoid prosecuting cases.
In Boston, police respond to 11,081 family disturbance calls, most involving physical violence. At the end of the first quarter of 1975, 5,589 such calls were received, half of the previous year’s figure for that period. Boston City Hospital reports that 70% of the assault victims received in the ER were known to be women attacked in homes by husbands and lovers.
In Fairfax County, VA, considered one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, police report 4,073 family disturbance calls, and that approximately 30 assault warrants are sought each week. Domestic violence is not just a ghetto or lower-class issue.
According to the FBI, 132 police officers are killed in the nation. Twenty-nine of them, one out of five officers, is killed while responding to domestic disturbance calls.
As a reult of women’s groups’ efforts, New York no longer requires a rape victim to give independent corroboration of the crime.
Through their newsletter, the Feminist Alliance Against Rape begins to fight for legal and institutional changes to help rape victims. It is the movement’s sounding board and brings inspiration to hundreds of women working in isolated groups.
Eisaku Sato, former prime minister of Japan, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Prior to his nomination, Sato’s wife accused him publicly of beating her. Sato’s popularity soars after his wife reveals that “Yes, he’s a good husband, he only beats me once a week.” Apparently, the committee did not consider wife-beating a breach of peace.
An Italian man is sentenced to two years in jail for raping his wife at gun point.
Britain holds Parliamentary Select Committee hearings on Violence in Marriage. Much of the testimony describes the roots of domestic violence as lying in individual inadequacy. This is the popular contemporary theory.
Interval House, a 3 bedroom flat in an old tenement property is established in Glasgow, Scotland. Edinburgh establishes 2 refuges. These organizations operate with feminist principles of self-help and non-hierarchical model.
Erin Prizzey authors the groundbreaking Scream Quietly or the Neighbors Will Hear, the first on the subject of battered wives. The British movement started four years before the U.S. movement and is known through Prizzey’s work.
Time Magazine prints an article on Erin Prizzey’s Chiswick Center. However, it is carried only in the European edition, suggesting that spousal battering is not of interest to Americans.
Rotterdam opens its first refuge with funds from the General Aid Office of the Netherlands. In 1975, 2 additional houses are obtained.
Elsie, a battered women’s shelter in Australia, is formed when members of the women’s Liberation squatted in 2 abandoned houses in the Glebe section of Sydney and refused to move out.
1975
With a unanimous vote at its national conference, NOW declares marital violence a major issue and establishes a National Task Force on Battered Women/Household Violence
The December issue of Vogue magazine carries a fashion layout depicting a couple alternately fighting and caressing each other. One photograph shows the female with her face twisted in pain after the male model hit her. The caption merely notes that her jumpsuit could “really take the heat.”
Most U.S. states allow wives to bring criminal action against a husband who inflicts injury upon her.
The Oakland, CA police department outlines their policy of non-arrest in domestic violence cases in its Training Bulletin on Techniques of Dispute Intervention. They state that they see their role as more of a “mediator and peacemaker” rather than an enforcer of the law.
The California Senate Subcommittee on Nutrition and Human Needs holds hearings on domestic violence.
In New York, Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis is formed after a domestic violence conference held in January. The AWAIC offers referral service and group counseling sessions to wives who need help breaking out of the victim syndrome.
In April, the Ann Arbor MI NOW Wife Assault Task Force is formed. They develop a “how to” technical manual (Wife Beating: How to Develop a Wife Assault Task Force and Project) to assist women’s groups in challenging their community to offer needed services for battered women.
Susan Brownmiller authors her book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape.
Diana E. Russell authors her book The Polictics of Rape: the Victim’s Perspective.
Women in Transition publishes the Women’s Survival Manual: A Feminist Handbook on Separation and Divorce.
In England, the feminist oriented National Women’s Aid federation is established by women from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.5 The women attending the first national gathering of Chiswick’s Women’s Aid groups split from that group to form a democratic, egalitarian organization. Erin Prizzey responds by sending the following letter to social work departments: “We are particularly worried and unhappy that there are groups who seem to be trying to use Women’s Aid as a platform for Women’s Liberation and Gay Women’s Liberation. We would strongly advise Social Services and Housing Departments to look very carefully at the groups in their areas who are offering to set up refuge before giving them your support.”
After seven years of debate, a new family law goes into effect in Italy. It explicitly does away with the ancient Rome concept of patris potestas, which vested sole authority in the father. Wife-beating is also abolished.
In Kinghorn, Scotland, the Magistrate George MacKay, fines a husband $11.50 for hitting his wife in the face. The magistrate told the husband, “it is a well known fact that you can strike your wife’s bottom if you wish, but you must not strike her on the face.”
Brazil passes a penal code that prohibits husbands from selling, renting, or gambling away their wives.
In South Africa, Queen Sibongile Winnifred of the Zulus is granted interim custody of her two children after alleging in affidavits to the Durban Supreme Court that her husband, the Zulu King, had whipped her while she was pregnant.
1976
The International Women’s Year Conference is held in Houston, TX. Meetings such as this on the local, state and national level allow women to form coalitions with one another and create a national battered women’s movement.
http://www.icadvinc.org/what-is-domestic-violence/history-of-battered-womens-movement/
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Thank you
