Establishing Shelters for Battered Women:

Local Manifestations of a Social Movement

Carol S. W h a r t o n
University of Richmond

A B S T R A C T : This paper analyzes how decentralized social movements manifest them-

selves on the local level, by studying twenty-five social movement organizations within
the battered women's movement. Data consist of in-depth interviews with group mem-
bers. the study focuses on six issues faced by the groups: how they recognized the need
in their communities for alternative services for battered women; how they enlisted com-
munity support; how they defined themselves in terms of feminism and the participation
of men, how they developed a working relationship with the battered women whom they
wanted to help; how they structured their organizations; and how they established goals
and strategies. Since the groups were at different stages of development, a dynamic anal-
ysis is made of each issue. Groups dealt with the issues on the basis of local resources,
values, and other conditions. The movement's structure allowed this independence, which
strengthened each group's ability to mobilize resources and accomplish goals. However,
it also resulted in local decisions t h a t were often inconsistent with movement goals and
weakened the ability of movement leaders to control strategy.

The battered women's movement brought woman battering to the fore-

ground of public consciousness in the 1970s. In response, people in lo-
cal communities discovered t h a t the existing social service system was
not dealing adequately with the problem and created alternative ser-
vices. This paper analyzes how 25 such groups designed services for bat-
tered women. It addresses the question of how national social movements
manifest themselves on the local level and identifies the factors t h a t
are influential in shaping local groups. The paper examines the impact
of a particular type of movement structure on the relationship between
movement leaders and local groups.
The battered women's movement has a decentralized structure in
which groups are independent of each other, allowing them to respond
to local conditions in determining goals and strategies (Tierney, 1982).
This flexibility also means, however, t h a t local decisions may be incon-
The author is grateful to Barrie Thorne, Kathleen Ferraro, the editors and two anony-
mous reviewers of QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY for their extensive reviews of earlier
drafts of this paper. Support for writing the paper was provided by a summer fellowship
from the Faculty Research Committee of the University of Richmond. Address correspon-
dence to: Department of Sociology, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173.

Qualitative Sociology, 10(2), Summer 1987 146 ©1987 by Human SciencesPress

 Establishing Shelters fbr Battered Women 147

sistent with movement goals. This paper investigates t h a t possibility.

Since the sample includes 25 groups at different stages of development,
a dynamic analysis is possible. In studying the process of establishing
and operating services, questions focused on how groups recognized the
need for services, enlisted community support, negotiated an identity,
developed a working relationship with the battered women whom they
wanted to help, and established goals and strategies. In addition it was
possible to study changes over time.
Data consist of in-depth interviews with group founders and members
who were well acquainted with the groups' histories. I interviewed only
one person from each of 22 groups. In the other three groups, two mem-
bers participated in the interviews. The taped interviews were based
on a standardized interview schedule, although the open-ended n a t u r e
of the questions allowed each respondent to recount her group's history
in her own fashion. The 25 groups range in age from less t h a n one year
to six years, with the majority (13) being between two and four years
old. The sample represents a total of 47 groups in two states, one in the
midwest and the other in the southeast. Community size includes rural
areas, small towns, and cities, although only six groups are located in
r u r a l areas and two in cities larger t h a n 150,000. F u r t h e r data were
obtained through observation of the first national conference of the Na-
tional Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) and analysis of
NCADV literature.

Recognizing a Need

Group founders were divided among activists (women in all but one
case) interested in women's issues and/or social welfare professionals
who dealt with large numbers of battered women and saw the need for
specific services for them. Twelve groups were started by activists and
t h i r t e e n by social service professionals. Of the twelve groups started
by women other t h a n social service professionals, nine began when
women working in rape crisis and/or multi-issue women's centers no-
ticed the volume of calls from battered women and the lack of places
for referral.

Women at [the local branch of the state university] women's center for
continuing education were getting a lot of calls from battered women and
the police and other agencies who didn't know what to do. The center sort
of dealt with things as they came up-someone would take the woman
home with them or to the emergency room. Gradually they realized they
couldn't handle it all; the community needed a shelter.
148 QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY

N O W c h a p t e r s o r g a n i z e d two g r o u p s a f t e r s p o n s o r i n g local needs as-

s e s s m e n t s . A f o r m e r l y b a t t e r e d w o m a n , to w h o m o t h e r w o m e n s t a r t e d
c o m i n g for h e l p w h e n t h e y h e a r d she h a d h e l p e d s o m e o n e else, decided
to o r g a n i z e services in h e r c o m m u n i t y :

So many women heard by word-of-mouth that they could come to me for

help. They were coming to my home and more and more kept coming (I
once had 14 women and 22 kids here!). I decided to reach out to the com-
munity for help and make this a shelter.

A m o n g t h e t h i r t e e n g r o u p s s t a r t e d by professionals, s e v e n w e r e
f o u n d e d b y social w o r k e r s w h o mobilized t h e i r peers.

We were people in various social service agencies who found that there
was no coordination of services to battered spouses and formed a commit-
tee to begin this coordination.

A f e m a l e m i n i s t e r s t a r t e d a g r o u p a f t e r t r y i n g v a i n l y to find e x i s t i n g
places to r e f e r b a t t e r e d w o m e n a s k i n g h e r for help. Y W C A p r o g r a m s
s t a r t e d two g r o u p s w h e n , ~'We s t a r t e d g e t t i n g r e q u e s t s for s h e l t e r f r o m
w o m e n in d a n g e r a n d realized t h a t t h e r e w a s a g r e a t n e e d for services."
A t t o r n e y s w i t h L e g a l Aid, s u r p r i s e d by t h e i r l a r g e n u m b e r of d o m e s t i c
violence cases a n d b y t h e lack of local r e f e r r a l services, f o u n d e d t h r e e
groups.

A woman lawyer came to [town] with Legal Aid as soon as she graduated
from law school and took over the Family Law section. Immediately she
started seeing battered women coming in, wanting to get out of the situa-
tion. She thought she'd just be able to call some agency or find services
for these women. She found that there was nothing in the city or almost
in the state.

T y p i c a l l y , a g r o u p s t a r t e d a t t h e p a r t i c u l a r t i m e t h a t it did b e c a u s e
of a u n i q u e c o n s t e l l a t i o n of e v e n t s . T h e f o u n d e r w a s often n e w in t o w n
or in h e r / h i s position a n d open to seeing n e w issues. T h e L e g a l Aid at-
t o r n e y s w e r e y o u n g l a w y e r s w h o h a d r e c e n t l y finished l a w school. T h e
f e m a l e m i n i s t e r was hired by a local church. A w o m a n who h a d r e c e n t l y
m o v e d to t o w n h a d b e l o n g e d to a N O W c h a p t e r in h e r p r e v i o u s c o m m u -
n i t y t h a t w a s s t u d y i n g w o m a n b a t t e r i n g . She decided to o r g a n i z e t h e
s a m e t y p e of p r o g r a m in h e r n e w c o m m u n i t y . T h e r e c e n c y of t h e s e in-
d i v i d u a l s in t h e i r positions w a s significant. T h e n e w jobs p r o v i d e d a
c h a n g e in p e r s p e c t i v e , m a k i n g t h e i n d i v i d u a l s m o r e a w a r e of a previ-
ously u n n o t i c e d issue. T h e factor of n e w n e s s d e m o n s t r a t e s t h e impor-
 Establishing Shelters for Battered Women 149

tance of t a k i n g a fresh look at old situations, of seeing situations as a

stranger sees them.

[The stranger] is freer, practically and theoretically; he [sic] surveys con-

ditions with less prejudice; his criteria for them are more general and more
objective ideals; he is not tied down to them by habit, piety, and prece-
dent (Simmel, 1950:405).

Although Simmel's stranger always remains an outsider and the shel-

ter founders were outsiders only until they had been socialized into their
jobs, the importance of the stranger or of strangeness lies in the capac-
ity to confront the familiar, to be detached and curious about the group's
most cherished traditions. The new lawyer, the new minister, or the
worker in a new social program was u n e n c u m b e r e d by the blinders
which so often develop after a routine is established.
In other communities, it was not the individuals but the social pro-
gram t h a t was new. The women's center opened, or another agency
changed its program in some way which made it more accessible to bat-
tered women (e.g., a drug crisis center donated part of its space to women
who began a rape counseling service.) In three communities an a g e n c y -
the D e p a r t m e n t of Social Services (DSS), the Comprehensive Employ-
ment Training Act (CETA), or the Cooperative Extension S e r v i c e - b e g a n
a home visitation program and found many battered women. Each group
traced its origins to one or two people who were located in a strategic
position, both to observe the need for services and to contact other people
who could lend support and legitimacy to a project.

Seeking Community Support

After recognizing a need, the founders developed a core group of people

and worked to establish services for battered women. The core group
soon discovered the need for more community involvement to accom-
plish the tasks it defined as important, especially since the battered
women's movement emphasized the importance of enlisting widespread
support as one way of transforming a private trouble into a public issue
(Schechter, 1982).
Thee were to general patterns of seeking support: building from the
grassroots or appealing to professional agencies within the social ser-
vice system. On either level, the groups recruited people who appeared
to be strategically located: prominent community residents (ministers,
150 QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY

city officials), members of the founders' professions (lawyers, social work-

ers), or members of the local feminist and/or activist community. Recruit-
ment patterns were not consistent with the groups' origins. Groups who
were founded by grassroots community groups often turned to profes-
sional social service agencies to widen their network of support.
The founders of sixteen groups, including ten who were started by so-
cial service professionals and six who were started by women's centers
or NOW chapters, asked for the support or sponsorship of established
agencies/organizations such as the Junior League, ministers of promi-
nent churches, attorneys and judges, corporate leaders, and the police.
For example, a group member recalled t h a t after a NOW chapter com-
piled data on the extent of domestic violence in the community:

[NOW] took its findings to the community council who said %his is
definitely a problem and we want it addressed." The council formed a task
force from Family Services, the Department of Welfare, Legal Aid, and
so on to look into what could be done.

These kinds of interagency linkages were important in soliciting a

larger support base and securing the commitment of other influential
citizens who provided resources and legitimacy for the project. These
people contributed ~'specialized" resources such as expertise, access to
other resources, or status (Freeman, -1983).
In contrast to the '~credentialed" support network, the activist founders
of seven groups were committed to building a grassroots support base.
They relied more on ~unspecialized" resources-time and c o m m i t m e n t -
from their supporters. To enlist a wider network of helpers, they con-
ducted a ~membership drive," in which anyone in the community (or
elsewhere, for t h a t matter) could join the group, volunteer for specific
types of jobs, pay dues, and vote for members of a board of directors.

Anyone can join [the group], can even waive the dues if they want; so the
idea is to have a membership which is based on the community at large.

This method of enlistment made the project visible, opened participa-

tion to the whole community, and facilitated the development of a mass
base of support. In contrast, the agency-sponsorship method tended to
narrow participation and to lead in a more professionalized direction.
Two groups did not succeed in enlisting a larger number of helpers
but managed to develop services with only a core group of very hard-
working individuals. One of these was started by women from a rape
crisis center who applied a radical feminist analysis of battering and
developed services in accordance with a critique of patriarchal society.
 Establishing Shelters for Battered Women 151

The group was separatist, shunned participation by men, and included

the politicization of its clients as a major goal. The other group succeeded
by quickly acquiring outside funding, including a Law Enforcement As-
sistance Administration (LEAA) grant which enabled them to hire staff
from their own members and start a program without appealing to the
community for money. This group, started by a Legal Aid attorney, was
unique in its strategy of foregoing community support.
Generally, building community support is a facet of mobilizing re-
sources, a crucial task for any organization. Tierney (1979, 1982) found
t h a t groups who fail to obtain community support are more likely to
dissolve, and successful resource mobilization is the result of m u t u a l l y
beneficial exchanges between movement groups and sponsors (see also
Nall, 1977).

Negotiating and Identity

In a survey of 127 shelters, Ferraro (1981) found t h a t only 46%

described themselves as having feminist origins or membership. The
majority of shelters were operated by nonfeminist social work profes-
sionals. Johnson (1981) concurred, finding t h a t the earliest groups who
organized shelters in the U.S. did not have feminist connections and
t h a t by 1980 even those linked originally to feminist groups or ideol-
ogy, had been transferred to non-feminist social service agencies.
In my sample, as each group evolved it had to define itself in terms
of several important issues: its relationship to feminism, whether or not
to include men and if so in what ways, what organizational structure
to develop, and how to approach and establish rapport with battered
women. How these issues were resolved depended on, and in turn helped
to shape, the group's identity.

Relation to F e m i n i s m

The NCADV and the newsletter AEGIS claim to represent the bat-
tered women's movement nationally. Both the organization and the pub-
lication have a feminist orientation and assert t h a t woman battering
is a feminist issue, but m a n y of the movement's members disagree. At
the first national meeting of the NCADV there was controversy about
the feminist perspective on woman battering, and local groups were com-
posed of people with varying conceptions of the role of feminism in the
movement.
152 QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY

The r e l a t i o n s h i p of groups in the study to f e m i n i s m fell into t h r e e cat-

egories. Spokespeople for six of the 25 groups said t h a t t h e i r groups were
feminist. M e m b e r s of e l e v e n groups said t h a t t h e i r groups were not ex-
plicitly feminist, a l t h o u g h the m e m b e r s h i p a g r e e d w i t h f e m i n i s t prin-
ciples. T h e r e s p o n d e n t s from eight groups denied t h a t t h e i r groups were
feminist. Typical of spokespeople who classified t h e i r groups as femi-
nist was t h e following s t a t e m e n t by a m e m b e r of a group s t a r t e d by a
f o r m e r l y b a t t e r e d w o m a n w o r k i n g in a women's center:

We're fledgling feminists. I think we're as feminist as anyone in the area.

Feminist means being political about women, seeing solutions to women's
problems as political, as being historically and culturally created.

Spokespeople who said t h a t t h e i r groups were not explicitly f e m i n i s t

t e n d e d to view f e m i n i s m as a d a n g e r o u s label in t h e i r c o m m u n i t i e s , al-
t h o u g h t h e y a g r e e d w i t h f e m i n i s t principles. An e x a m p l e is the follow-
ing s t a t e m e n t , from a group s t a r t e d by a social worker:

I am a feminist but I don't use that word. I can get the same point across
using other words. Staff wouldn't label themselves that way. They're in
favor of the ERA, equal pay, raising children in a nonsexist way-anything
that a feminist would b e - b u t they'll say "I'm not a feminist."

Finally, the groups who flatly denied being feminist defined f e m i n i s m

as a n a r r o w ideology i n a p p r o p r i a t e for t h e i r m e m b e r s h i p . T h e follow-
ing s t a t e m e n t came from a group s t a r t e d by a n i n t e r a g e n c y social ser-
vices council:

We're not primarily feminists. We prefer to be humanists, concerned with

the rights of all people. "Feminist" is too restrictive-sounds like "not
equal"-too separatist. Feminists just concentrate on women's rights.

While the definitions of f e m i n i s m cited above m a y h a v e reflected only

the speakers' perspectives, t h e y reveal t h a t at the local level some groups
who provide services for b a t t e r e d w o m e n do not endorse the n a t i o n a l
m o v e m e n t ' s claim t h a t b a t t e r i n g is a f e m i n i s t issue. I n t e r e s t i n g l y , the
groups' positions on f e m i n i s m were not c o r r e l a t e d with t h e i r origins.
A m o n g the six explicitly f e m i n i s t groups were t h r e e s t a r t e d by profes-
sional social w o r k e r s a n d t h r e e s t a r t e d by women's centers. The e l e v e n
who were ~qualified" Cyes, b u t . . . " ) feminists were s t a r t e d by women's
centers, d r u g crisis centers, a YWCA, and social workers. And the eight
who denied a f e m i n i s t identification included both groups s t a r t e d by
N O W c h a p t e r s as well as t h r e e o r g a n i z e d by social workers.
T h e d e g r e e of identification w i t h f e m i n i s m affected how groups mobi-
 Establishing Shelters for Battered Women 153

lized support in t h e i r communities. On the surface it appeared t h a t t h e r e

was no relation b e t w e e n a feminist i d e n t i t y and mobilization strategies.
Those who identified t h e m s e l v e s as f e m i n i s t s w e r e as likely to solicit
support from e s t a b l i s h e d agencies a n d i n f l u e n t i a l citizens as t h e y were
to t r y and build a grassroots m e m b e r s h i p . F u r t h e r m o r e , the eight non-
f e m i n i s t groups included t h r e e c o m m i t t e d to developing broad-based
c o m m u n i t y i n v o l v e m e n t t h r o u g h open m e m b e r s h i p and f u n d r a i s i n g
drives. B u t in looking more closely, it b e c a m e a p p a r e n t t h a t groups h a d
modified t h e i r identities in response to t h e i r audiences. T h e s e who felt
t h a t f e m i n i s m would be a h a n d i c a p in t h e i r c o m m u n i t i e s m o d e r a t e d or
a b a n d o n e d t h e i r f e m i n i s t o r i e n t a t i o n . As one spokesperson of a non-
f e m i n i s t group explained,

NOW [the initial supporter] backed off. We felt that the group needed to
be seen as somewhere in the middle rather than to the extreme of one
end or the other, if the program is going to glide in this community.

Some group m e m b e r s who were f e m i n i s t felt it was safe to be f e m i n i s t

in a n e s t a b l i s h e d social a g e n c y w h e r e t h e m e m b e r s ' politics were not
likely to affect r e c r u i t m e n t a n d funding. In most cases the m a t t e r of
f e m i n i s t i d e n t i t y was s h a p e d by t h e n e e d to r e c r u i t support a n d secure
funding. Only one group r e m a i n e d feminist without r e g a r d to how others
p e r c e i v e d t h e m . I n t e r e s t i n g l y , t h e y did not seek outside support.

Involving Men in Groups

A n o t h e r issue in n e g o t i a t i n g a n i d e n t i t y c o n c e r n e d t h e decision as to
w h e t h e r or not m e n would be welcomed, or e v e n p e r m i t t e d , to partici-
pate in a group s u p p o r t i n g b a t t e r e d women. Groups divided into four
major positions on the q u e s t i o n of men's participation.
Two groups were totally opposed to including m e n a m o n g staff, volun-
teers, or m e m b e r s of the b o a r d of directors. T h e y felt t h a t b a t t e r i n g was
a women's issue, and if a w o m a n w e r e l e a v i n g an oppressive relation-
ship with a m a n , she would not w a n t to h a v e to accept help f r o m o t h e r
men, or she n e e d e d to l e a r n to not n e e d help from men. As one such
group's spokesperson said:

She's coming from a dependent relationship and it would be too easy to

just transfer that dependency onto another man, if any were here.

These groups appealed to w o m e n in the c o m m u n i t y and women's organi-

zations (e.g., t h e YWCA, NOW) for support.
154 QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY

The most common position, found in 18 groups, was t h a t men could

appropriately serve in some positions, perhaps on the board of directors,
but could not provide direct services such as counseling and advocacy,
or provide leadership. Pragmatically, it was often beneficial to have male
board members with influential positions in the c o m m u n i t y - a prosecut-
ing attorney, a wealthy businessman, a minister. This kind of division
of roles resulted from the conflicting needs of the groups - t h e need for
legitimacy versus the need for ideological purity.
Five groups felt it essential to have men participate fully in planning
and delivering w h a t e v e r services were offered. They thought battered
women and their children needed to see men in nonviolent roles. As one
of their spokespeople explained:

It's important to provide positive male models to the women and children,
so they don't think all men are like the one they just left.

The positions t a k e n with regard to men's participation were consis-

t e n t with other group values, such as explicit expressions of feminism
and the group's definition of woman battering. The most openly femi-
nist groups were the least likely to accept men's full participation.
Groups which defined woman b a t t e r i n g as the inevitable result of in-
nate male tendencies to violence were most opposed to male participa-
tion in the movement. They contended t h a t if men were the source of
the problem, men could not also be part of the solution. There was also
a relationship between a group's reaction to men in the movement and
the group's community setting. Those in smaller towns and rural areas,
who had to recruit members from a smaller population, were likely to
be more tolerant of men's participation. Those in u r b a n areas could be,
and usually were, more exclusive.
Groups also had to consider their involvement with battered men. Be-
cause of funding stipulations and affirmative action policies, all groups
had to provide services to b a t t e r e d men on request. For three groups
this r e q u i r e m e n t would include keeping men in the shelter if they
needed a place to stay. But for the most it would mean finding them
a bed at some other l o c a t i o n - i n a motel, a volunteer home, or in an
existing refuge for homeless men (YMCA, Union Mission, or whatever
existed in t h a t community). None of the groups had ever received a call
from a man in need of shelter. Most had a few calls (usually no more
t h a n two or three, or, less t h a t one percent of their clientele) from men
who wanted counseling or information. This was provided. All of the
groups developed a contingency plan to deal with a battered man. This
plan also served as a part of the groups' ~public ideologies" (Nall, 1977),
a response to audiences who expected such accommodations.
 Establishing Shelters for Battered Women 155

Collectives Versus Bureaucracies

A n o t h e r i d e n t i t y issue concerned t h e group's o r g a n i z a t i o n a l structure:

collective or b u r e a u c r a t i c . T h e a n t i - b u r e a u c r a t i c collective w a s a n ideal
of m a n y g r o u p s in t h e b e g i n n i n g , w h o w a n t e d to m i n i m i z e rules, roles,
p r o c e d u r e s , a n d o r g a n i z a t i o n a l c h a r t s a n d a r r a n g e t h e m s e l v e s in a n
e g a l i t a r i a n fashion. O n l y two g r o u p s w e r e a c t u a l l y o p e r a t i n g as collec-
tives, h o w e v e r , a n d t h i s is a c o m m o n p a t t e r n w i t h a l t e r n a t i v e settings:

Alternatives may be ideological and antibureaucratic when founded, but

as time passes they frequently move into a second, more bureaucratic stage.
• . . If an organization is to survive, it needs to convert chaos into order
and define new rewards for members. But, by making these changes, the
organization loses its antibureaucratic character (Reinharz, 1984:309).

The two m a i n c o n s t r a i n t s on collective s t r u c t u r e w e r e e x t e r n a l require-

m e n t s a n d l a c k of t i m e . T h e m o s t c o m m o n l y cited r e a s o n w a s f u n d i n g
restrictions, w h i c h m e a n t t h a t titles a n d r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s for e a c h posi-
tion h a d to be specified. T h e n s a l a r i e s w e r e f u n d e d a c c o r d i n g to tradi-
t i o n a l concepts of status. F o u n d a t i o n s f a m i l i a r w i t h h i e r a r c h i a l
s t r u c t u r e s t e n d to be suspicious of collectives w i t h d e m o c r a t i c organi-
zation (Martin, 1976). T h u s , g r o u p s d e s i g n e d b u r e a u c r a t i c s t r u c t u r e s
to a c q u i r e f u n d i n g , a n d t h e n b e g a n to v i e w t h e m as a p p r o p r i a t e . Nei-
t h e r of t h e collective g r o u p s r e l i e d h e a v i l y on outside funding. T h e fem-
i n i s t g r o u p t h a t e s c h e w e d outside s u p p o r t w a s a collective; t h e o t h e r
collective w a s a n o n f e m i n i s t b u t g r a s s r o o t s g r o u p w i t h a m o d e s t pro-
g r a m . T h e second r e a s o n for t h e r e p l a c e m e n t of collectives w i t h
b u r e a u c r a c i e s w a s f r u s t r a t i o n w i t h t h e slow process of c o n s e n s u a l deci-
sion m a k i n g . T h e following c o m m e n t s w e r e typical:

We used to be really democratic in group process, but we found that to

function effectively, we needed to delegate decision making.

When we tried collective decision-making it took forever to do anything.

Some of us used to joke that there was a list of decisions that could be
made by one person, another list of things that two people had to decide,
and so on to a list that required the whole g r o u p - t h a t was the longest list!

Twenty-three groups had a bureaucratic structure and a hierarchical

a r r a n g e m e n t of m e m b e r s • A b o a r d of directors d e t e r m i n e d policy a n d
hired the Director, who s u p e r v i s e d the staff. R u l e s w e r e elaborated. Em-
p l o y m e n t w a s b a s e d on explicit q u a l i f i c a t i o n s a n d job classifications.
M a n y g r o u p s v i e w e d t h e i r p r o g r a m s i n s t r u m e n t a l l y , as one w o m a n ex-
plained:
156 QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY

There is a difference of philosophy between approaching this as helping

people or as an agency. I wanted to help people but saw us as setting up
an agency and therefore I approached it as a business.

Relationships with Battered Women

O u t s i d e r s a r e often t h e o r i g i n a t o r s of o r g a n i z e d concern a b o u t a so-

cial issue b e c a u s e t h e y a r e m o r e likely t h a n m e m b e r s of t h e o p p r e s s e d
g r o u p to control r e s o u r c e s s u c h as m o n e y a n d t i m e , a n d to h a v e m o r e
organizing experience a n d access to centers of power. Outsiders also m a y
h a v e m o r e c o m m a n d of a l i b e r a t i n g ideology t h a n do those affected b y
t h e p r o b l e m . T h o s e w h o a r e affected a r e often isolated a n d u n a w a r e of
a l t e r n a t i v e s or l a c k a t r a d i t i o n of a c t i v e l y q u e s t i o n i n g t h e l e g i t i m a c y
of t h e s y s t e m ( M a r x a n d U s e e m , 1971).
T h e m e m b e r s of local g r o u p s w e r e p r e d o m i n a t e l y n e v e r - b a t t e r e d
w o m e n , % u t s i d e r s , " w h o w e r e w o r k i n g to m a k e w o m a n b a t t e r i n g m o r e
visible, to find solutions a n d e v e n t u a l l y to e l i m i n a t e t h e p r o b l e m . T h e
fact t h a t t h e m e m b e r s h a d not b e e n b a t t e r e d affected t h e w a y t h e y w e n t
a b o u t t r y i n g to a c c o m p l i s h t h e i r goals. F o r e x a m p l e , since a p r i m a r y
goal of e a c h g r o u p w a s to p r o v i d e s e r v i c e s to b a t t e r e d w o m e n , b a t t e r e d
w o m e n h a d to be a t t r a c t e d to t h e s h e l t e r s a n d o t h e r services, a n d groups
h a d to discover a l a n g u a g e a n d a p p r o a c h t h a t w a s n o n t h r e a t e n i n g .
One such a p p r o a c h w a s for group m e m b e r s to establish a c o m m o n iden-
t i t y w i t h t h e i r clients. T h e m o v e m e n t e m p h a s i z e d t h a t all w o m e n w e r e
t h e o p p r e s s e d m e m b e r s of a p a t r i a r c h a l society a n d a t r i s k as p o t e n t i a l
v i c t i m s of b a t t e r i n g . T h u s as w o m e n , g r o u p m e m b e r s w e r e not e n t i r e l y
outsiders. T h e y g a i n e d e m o t i o n a l u n d e r s t a n d i n g on t h e b a s i s of perceiv-
ing a c o m m o n t h r e a t .
T h e effort to i d e n t i f y w i t h b a t t e r e d w o m e n s e r v e d as a n o t h e r r e a s o n
for f e m i n i s t s g r o u p m e m b e r s to m o d e r a t e t h e i r ~ p r e s e n t a t i o n of self,"
a w a y f r o m a r a d i c a l l y or, in s o m e cases, e v e n a m o d e r a t e l y f e m i n i s t po-
sition (Schechter, 1982). I f t h e g r o u p s s o u n d e d too '~radical" it w a s pre-
s u m e d t h a t m a n y b a t t e r e d w o m e n w o u l d not a v a i l t h e m s e l v e s of t h e
services. L e a v i n g t h e b a t t e r i n g s i t u a t i o n a n d c o m i n g to a s h e l t e r w e r e
t h e m s e l v e s m o m e n t o u s decisions. I f t h e b a t t e r e d w o m a n b e l i e v e d t h a t
she also h a d to accept a w h o l e n e w ideology, i.e., f e m i n i s m , she m i g h t
h a v e decided t h a t t h e m o v e w a s too e x t r e m e for her. l

The immediate question is: how can we establish shelters that save lives,
provide support and help generate a sense of community and autonomy,
and fight against the causes of domestic violence without mystifying the
 Establishing Shelters for Battered Women 157

social nature of that violence, or alienating and frightening the very

women we want to join with through excesses and errors in our own prac-
tice (McGrath, 1979:26, 28)?

Class differences also created divisions between group members and

their target population, as has been shown in studies of draft resisters
(Thorne, 1971) and the e n v i r o n m e n t a l and anti-nuclear movements.
Women who appealed to groups for help were usually working-class and
often third-world women, not because b a t t e r i n g was confined to this
class, but because women with other resources were more likely to seek
"private" solutions, such as divorce or psychological c o u n s e l i n g - c o s t l y
professional services. The working class and the chronically poor had
less access to such alternatives (Walker, 1979). By contrast, group mem-
bers were often white and middle-class. These differences create a poten-
tial for misunderstanding and conflict between the group's members and
the consumers of their services.
In groups with a social work orientation, rifts developed between mem-
bers and battered women, defined as "clients." This terminology mag-
nified the insider/outsider division by putting battered women in a
separate category from group members (Morgan, 1981). By referring to
b a t t e r e d women as clients, groups denied t h e m active participation in
defining the issue of battering. As Loseke and Cahill (1984:296) point
out:

While the feminist ideals underlying the movement for battered women
suggested that victims of wife assault could be the only "experts" regard-
ing their problems.., ironically, but not sm-prisingly, the movement was
accompanied by the emergence of experts on battered women.

These experts included academics, social service providers, political ac-

tivists, and journalists who claimed expertise on the basis of intellec-
tual study, practical experience in social service provision, or both, and
shared a belief "that their understandings should be used to educate
and assist those who are less knowledgeable and fortunate" (Loseke and
Cahill, 1984). While battered women benefited from this knowledge, they
also payed a p r i c e - t h a t of being defined by the experts r a t h e r t h a n by
their own experiences.
In time, m a n y groups became sensitive to their potentially alienat-
ing practices and developed ways to break down barriers between them-
selves and b a t t e r e d women. The following assessment is typical:

Women who come to the shelter sometimes challenge us to prove that we

are not just "college types" who don't know anything about the real world.
158 QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY

Like, they'll say ~Have you ever been beaten? If not, how can you possi-
bly understand how I feel?" We're really struggling to make ourselves ac-
countable, and we recognize the validity of that kind of doubt. We say,
~No I haven't been beaten and you're right, I don't understand totally, but
I've talked to a lot of battered women and I want you to tell me where
you're coming from." We really spend a lot of time establishing a good
relationship with each woman who comes to us, and I think we're getting
better at it.

Marx and Useem (1971) contend t h a t insiders are more likely to

achieve dominance in the later stages of a social movement, as they gain
a sense of their rights and the means to achieve them. This has not hap-
pened in the battered women's movement, which instead has become
more professionalized, in part because of the particular characteristics
of the insiders. Battered women are a disconnected group, usually iso-
lated from each other, poor in resources, and often believing as in-
dividuals t h a t they are alone in the condition of being physically abused
by their husbands/lovers. Perhaps more important, the pattern of abuse
is usually episodic and the victims are often able to convince themselves
that their own situation does not fit the mode, i.e., they have been beaten
but theirs is not a ~'battering relationship" (see Walker, 1974). Further-
more, the experience of being physically abused is a source of shame
and not of a strong self-identity. Thus it is not surprising t h a t battered
women have not organized themselves into a social movement, and ser-
vice groups continue to consist largely of never-battered women.

Changing Goals and Strategies

As groups established their memberships, developed bases of support,

and forged their identities, their goals and the strategies to achieve them
became more focused. With an issue such as woman battering, there
was great need for immediate victim relief. Services included crisis lines,
counseling, information about community resources, and shelter. Al-
though only 13 groups had their own shelter, the other 12 were work-
ing toward establishing one. As Johnson (1981) discovered about the
groups he studied, shelters were the main '~program enterprise." Al-
though local groups emphasized providing services for battered women,
all saw their purpose as two-fold: (1) to provide immediate and long-term
relief for women who were in b a t t e r i n g situations, and (2) to increase
public awareness of and concern for the issue. The following s t a t e m e n t
of goals was typical:
 Establishing Shelters for Battered Women 159

Our goals are very long term: we want to educate and change attitudes,
lobby and do legislative work to change laws and enforce the changes.
We want to maintain shelters so people have a place to go.

T h e s e t y p e s of goals are typical of a l t e r n a t i v e s e t t i n g s t h a t are c r e a t e d

in r e s p o n s e to social p r o b l e m s . Such s e t t i n g s m u s t s t r i v e first to m e e t
t h e n e e d s of t h e i r m e m b e r s or clients, a n d second to p r o m o t e n e w v a l u e s
or l a w s t h a t c h a l l e n g e society to c h a n g e (Reinharz, 1984).
Public education took t h e f o r m s of p r e s e n t a t i o n s to c o m m u n i t y organi-
zations, radio a n d television public service a n n o u n c e m e n t s (PSAs), work-
shops for r e l e v a n t a g e n c i e s such as t h e police a n d hospitals, a n d
b r o c h u r e s d e s c r i b i n g t h e g r o u p ' s services. M o s t of t h e g r o u p s said t h a t
t h e y h a d as m a n y r e q u e s t s for p r e s e n t a t i o n s as t h e y could fill. As one
w o m a n explained:

We originally had a volunteer who called groups all over town and offered
them speakers. Now groups call us and we usually have more requests
than we can handle.

Several spokespersons explained that their presentations had changed

o v e r t i m e . T h e y h a d b e e n m o r e c o n c e r n e d in t h e b e g i n n i n g w i t h dis-
c u s s i n g t h e c a u s e s of w o m a n b a t t e r i n g , b u t h a d drifted g r a d u a l l y to a n
e m p h a s i s on t h e " n u t s a n d bolts" of t h e g r o u p ' s services:

We've quit trying to explain why domestic violence occurs; we just tell
them about what we're doing and don't bother with the philosophical ques-
tions.

A l t h o u g h m o s t g r o u p s v i e w e d t h e p u r p o s e of t h e s e p r e s e n t a t i o n s as
twofold, to i n c r e a s e c o m m u n i t y s u p p o r t a n d a w a r e n e s s of t h e services
a v a i l a b l e , e a c h g r o u p w e i g h t e d t h e two s t r a t e g i e s differently. F o r ex-
a m p l e , a few g r o u p s felt t h a t t h e first p u r p o s e w a s a sufficient r e a s o n
for public o u t r e a c h , w h i l e t h e second r e a s o n took care of itself.

It seems like we've always been overworked and the idea of publicizing
to get more women to call us is inconceivable because its hard enough
to handle what's already coming in. Therefore, we focus on changing atti-
tudes and getting volunteers and donations from the audience.

O t h e r g r o u p s w e r e c o n c e r n e d a b o u t r e a c h i n g as m a n y b a t t e r e d w o m e n
as possible, a n d a s s u m e d t h a t t h e r e w e r e p r o b a b l y a t l e a s t one or two
w o m e n in e v e r y a u d i e n c e who m i g h t n e e d t h e g r o u p s o m e day. G r o u p s
w e r e s o m e t i m e s f r u s t r a t e d by t h e n e e d for b o t h k i n d s of a c t i v i t y -
160 QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY

providing services and public o u t r e a c h - t o occur simultaneously, since

both required expenditures of valuable time and energy, and a substan-
tial number of supporters.
In the 1980s shelter funding became scarcer, in the political climate
of general hostility to governmental spending for social programs. In
response, some groups began to look for ways to consolidate with other
agencies and eliminate the need for their separate services. As a result
of advocacy and public pressure, other agencies started to offer some
services. Eventually direct services may be provided by conventional
social service agencies. For example, in some of the counties of one state
studied, the Department of Social Services (DSS) redefined eligibility
for welfare payments so that a battered woman who left her assailant
could qualify immediately for housing and living expenses (see Tierney,
1982, for a general discussion of the support of the welfare sector). This
change has helped local shelters who now can receive per diem payments
from DSS residents. It also makes it easier for a woman to leave the
battering situation and establish a home for herself and her children.
Thus, direct services from groups studied here become less necessary
as other agencies become more responsive to the recognized social prob-
lem. This route will also have a profound impact on local groups, since
they can shift their attention to public outreach and/or legislation.
The spokespeople for five of the groups talked about moving ~beyond
sheltering." That meant taking actions in addition to providing emer-
gency housing, such as pressing for more protective legislation for bat-
tered women, or providing '~second-stage housing"-apartments or houses
near the shelter that former residents could rent as they gradually be-
came more independent of the shelter. In the mid-1980s, however, provid-
ing direct services remains a dominant activity of local groups.
Strategies focus on securing alternative financial support for services
rather than seeking alternative solutions to the problem.

Conclusion

In choosing to provide expensive programs, groups had to mitigate

their challenges to patriarchal ideology and hierarchy in order to ac-
quire financial support for services. In order to gain funding from govern-
merit and private industry, groups had to satisfy their sponsors'
perceptions of appropriate organizational structure, focus, and analy-
sis. Local groups became legitimate and entrenched in the community
by camouflaging their ties to feminism and denying a radical under-
standing of the causes of and solutions to woman battering. The prob-
 Establishing Shelters for Battered Women 161

lem of woman b a t t e r i n g became more easily absorbed by the state, by

social service agencies, and the professional model.
This paper has analyzed how decentralized social movements develop
at the local level. As the b a t t e r e d women's m o v e m e n t made the public
aware of the widespread n a t u r e of battering, groups organized them-
selves independently and developed ~'selutions" based on their resources,
values, and local conditions. Groups viewed direct services and public
outreach as their p r i m a r y goals. To a certain extent, providing direct
services in the form of shelters, safe homes and other emergency hous-
ing, counseling, and advocacy was in contradiction with the ideology
of self help which the movement advocated. The focus on services
reflected the increasing dominance of social work professionals in ]ocal
groups (Tierney, 1982). Groups saw these services as a way of helping
battered women get out of their violent situations and acquire the neces-
sary resources to become independent. The shelters, as agencies specif-
ically designed to serve battered women, gave legitimacy to the problem
in the eyes of police, hospitals, social workers, and the general public. ~
However, shelters altered social conceptions of woman b a t t e r i n g (Fer-
raro, 1981) and fostered dependence on yet another outside agency, par-
ticularly in situations where battered women did not participate in
designing and providing the services for themselves.
National feminist spokespeople recognized the limitations of a focus
on services. In the 1980s, some began to question the legitimacy of put-
ting all of the movement's energy into services:

• providing [services] requires greater and greater quantities of money,

. .

puts groups in the position of providing more for women than women do-
ing for themselves with support and takes some of the burden off the es-
tablishment to provide services for women. It might be more politically
effective to not try to provide for women's every need and instead to work
with battered women to demand of the existing system that it provide for
their needs (Sullivan, 1982:19).

In contrast, local leaders often seemed unable to look beyond the need
to secure their programs, which usually m e a n t becoming institutional-
ized as a conventional social program. The following comment by one
respondent was typical:

Groups will have to become institutionalized to continue. Funding is the

key to survival and we can't get that on our own. The institutionalized
route is necessary.

The different perceptions by national leaders and local groups con-

cerning strategy are common to reform movements, which often have
162 QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY

a radical core and a large, generally very moderate, membership, both

ideologically and structurally (Ash, 1972). The membership is unwill-
ing or unable to totally accept the strategies and ideas of the core, and
persists in modifying them to suit a conventional framework of reform.
So although the national leaders spoke of altering the social structure
to eliminate violence against women (Schechter, 1982), many local
groups perceived themselves as reformers, intent on providing services.
The movement's structure allowed this divergence of perceptions, since
each group was autonomous. This type of structure strengthens the abil-
ity of SMOs to mobilize resources and accomplish goals (Gerlach and
Hine, 1970; Tierney, 1982), but it weakens the movement's ability to
control strategy or develop a new ideology.

The final stage of a successful social movement is often institution-

alization; successful alternative settings are incorporated into conven-
tional social institutions. This incorporation indicates that mainstream
leaders have adopted the innovative strategies of the alternative, but
it also means that the unique aspects of the alternative s e t t i n g - t h e crit-
ical e d g e s - a r e lost (Reinharz, 1984). Thus, the battered women's groups
who strive to convince conventional agencies of the need for services
may succeed, but ultimately lose control of how those services are struc-
tured and delivered. This loss of control of services mirrors on the local
level the movement's loss of decision-making ability on the national
level.

Notes

1. See my analysis (Wharton, in press) of life within one shelter for battered women's
perceptions of feminism.
2. The shelters which have gained sufficient public approval to become viable are built
on the ideology of public w e l f a r e - o f f e r i n g assistance which allows institutional struc-
tures to continue. Ferraro (in private correspondence) terms this kind of shelter a %her-
apeutic center." It serves as a safety valve rather t h a n a long-term option. Public
approval requires t h a t shelters not be viewed as breaking up families. Thus, the max-
imum stay in most shelters is four to six weeks, since any longer period could be con-
strued as encouraging women to leave their marriages permanently.

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