The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate the way in which feminist-based organizations - specifically women's centres - have sought to fulfill the unmet social needs of women and children living throughout British Columbia. This thesis achieves this end through a number of different means. A literature review provides background on feminist planning and an overview of the history of the women's movement in Canada. An examination of B.C. women's centres, which includes a close look at the similar and unique services offered, demonstrates the positive contributions made by centres. A case study, which thoroughly reviews the history of one specific centre (the North Shore Women's Centre), shows how women's centres evolve over time in order to meet the changing needs of the women in their communities. An analysis explores the opportunities and constraints that the members of women's centres have faced in trying to carry out their various activities. This thesis has been based on, and has utilized, the goals and methodologies created by feminist planners. In doing so, it takes women's needs, interests, and experiences into account, and aims to make a contribution to knowledge that women can use to improve their lives

The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate the way in which feminist-based organizations - specifically women's centres - have sought to fulfill the unmet social needs of women and children living throughout British Columbia. This thesis achieves this end through a number of different means. A literature review provides background on feminist planning and an overview of the history of the women's movement in Canada. An examination of B.C. women's centres, which includes a close look at the similar and unique services offered, demonstrates the positive contributions made by centres. A case study, which thoroughly reviews the history of one specific centre (the North Shore Women's Centre), shows how women's centres evolve over time in order to meet the changing needs of the women in their communities. An analysis explores the opportunities and constraints that the members of women's centres have faced in trying to carry out their various activities. This thesis has been based on, and has utilized, the goals and methodologies created by feminist planners. In doing so, it takes women's needs, interests, and experiences into account, and aims to make a contribution to knowledge that women can use to improve their lives / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

As the number of cases of the COVID-19 virus spread across the world in the beginning of 2020, governments decided to take measures to stop the spread of the virus. These measures limited individual’s freedom of movement and soon thereafter, the number of domestic violence cases increased. While the increase in domestic violence has almost interchangeably been linked to the enforcement of lockdowns, statistics have indicated an increase in domestic violence in Sweden as well whereas they never enforced any lockdowns. The aim of this thesis is thus to explore this issue further by interviewing staff at women’s shelters and support services in Sweden to examine how they perceive how the pandemic has impacted the situation of men’s violence against women (as most cases of domestic violence is a matter of a man abusing a woman), their organizations, and their relationship with the women. The theoretical lens of shared trauma has been used to explore how the relationship between the organizations and the women have been affected as they navigate through the shared traumatic reality of the pandemic. The analytical tool used in this study is by a thematic analysis, whereas 7 themes were located: (1) Change in the level of support, (2) Change in the level of violence, (3) The role of the media and public perception, (4) Economic uncertainty and vulnerability, (5) Governmental directives, (6) Sharing a traumatic experience, and (7) Posttraumatic growth. The study concludes that the pandemic has impacted the women’s shelters and support services in this study quite a lot, both in negative and positive terms. Whilst the study indicates an increased level of men’s violence against women, the organizations have on the other hand been forced by the pandemic to develop their organizational structure to reach the women who have been isolated in their homes, and thus improved a lot of tools to support these women in the future.

Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka hur personal på kvinnojourer upplever att samverkan med socialtjänsten fungerar. Dessa organisationer är båda betydelsefulla aktörer i arbetet med våldsutsatta kvinnor och därför är det viktigt att de kan mötas och ta tillvara på varandras kompetenser för att uppnå en så god samverkan som möjligt. Frågeställningarna som resultatet bygger på är Hur tycker personalen på kvinnojourerna att samarbetet med socialtjänsten fungerar? Finns det något som skulle behöva förändras för att förbättra arbetet och i sådana fall hur? Hur ser ansvarsfördelningen ut mellan kvinnojour och socialtjänst - finns det tydliga roller att förhålla sig till i det gemensamma arbetet att ge stöd och hjälp till en utsatt kvinna? Informanterna i den här studien arbetar på sex olika kvinnojourer. Kvalitativ forskningsmetod, med semistrukturerade intervjuer har använts för att få svar på frågorna och de inspelade intervjuerna har transkriberats och sedan meningskategoriserats för att få struktur på empirin. Ur detta skapades teman som vi sedan fann kopplingar till i samverkansteori. Resultatet visar att informanterna upplever samverkan med socialtjänsten som mycket varierande, beroende på olika omständigheter. Det finns en önskan och ett behov hos informanterna om att socialtjänsten ska vara mer insatta i och förstå mäns våld mot kvinnor för att kunna samverka bättre. Brist på resurser och otydlig ansvarsfördelning nämns som orsaker till varför samverkan emellanåt inte fungerar optimalt. Med hjälp av samverkansteori analyserade vi resultatet och kan dra slutsatsen att en god samverkan förutsätter vissa faktorer, som exempelvis gemensamt mål, tillräckliga resurser, samsyn, tydlig ansvars- och rollfördelning. Vår tolkning är att informanterna upplever ett behov av att ovanstående faktorer är implementerade i samverkansarbetet. / The purpose of this study was to examine how staff at women's shelters is experiencing the collaboration with Social Services. These organizations are both significant players in working with abused women and therefore it is important that they can come together and use each other's competencies to achieve a sufficient collaboration as possible. The questions of which the results are based on are How do staff at women's shelters experience the collaboration with Social Services? Is there anything that would need to be changed to improve the work and if so how? What is the division of responsibilities between the shelter and Social Services - are there distinct roles to relate to in the joint work to provide support and assistance to a woman victim of violence? The informants in this study work at six different women's shelters. Qualitative research, with semi-structured interviews was used to obtain answers to the questions and the recorded interviews were transcribed and then categorized to be able to structure the empirics. From this, themes were created, which we then found links to in interaction theory. The results show that informants experience a good collaboration with the Social Services as highly variable, depending on various circumstances. There is a need by the informants that Social Services should be more familiar with and understand men's violence against women in order to work better together. Lack of resources and an unclear division of responsibility is mentioned as reasons why collaboration sometimes does not work optimally. With the help of interaction theory, we analyzed the results and conclude that the proper collaboration requires certain factors, such as common goals, adequate resources, common understanding, clear responsibilities and roles. Our interpretation is that the informants experience a need of the above factors to be implemented into the collaboration.

Mäns våld mot kvinnor i nära relation är ett stort samhällsproblem. Ett resultat av den fortskridande coronapandemin, och dess restriktioner som innebär individuella rörelsebegränsningar, är att kriminologer befarar en ökning av våld i nära relation i Sverige. Föreliggande studie syftar till att undersöka huruvida pandemin har resulterat i en förändring av antalet kvinnor som söker hjälp hos svenska kvinnojourer under våren 2020 och möjliga förklaringar till detta fenomen. Därigenom undersökning utforskades och konceptualiserades våld i nära relation i förhållande till coronakrisen. I förfarandet av studien användes en mixad design för att få en djupare och vidare förståelse för ämnet. Med en kvantitativ enkät kartlades nationellt huruvida 93 kvinnojourer runt om i Sverige uppfattar en eventuell förändring. Genom sex kvalitativa intervjuer återgav representanter för svenska kvinnojourer sina upplevelser. Resultatet visar på varierande uppfattningar om det har skett en förändring på belastningen sedan coronautbrottet i Sverige. Däremot delar alla informanter uppfattningen om att det faktiska relationsvåldet har ökat under krisen. Informanternas förklaringar till denna utveckling grundas i ett strukturellt perspektiv, men kopplas även till individuella faktorer som kan förstärkas under krisen och öka risken för våld i nära relation. / Intimate partner violence is a major issue in our society. As a result of the emerging Corona Virus Pandemic, and the restrictions this has placed upon individual mobility, criminologists have come to fear that the pandemic has caused an increase in violence against women in the Swedish society. The following study seeks to investigate whether the pandemic has led to changing numbers of women entering women’s shelters in the spring of 2020 and possible explanations of this phenomena. In doing so, the main objective is to evaluate and conceptualise intimate partner violence in relation to the crisis. In order to fully grasp both the width and depth of this issue, the preferable method of choice was a mixed design. To quantify the national perception, 93 respondents from different women’s shelters were surveyed. In addition, six qualitative interviews with various women’s shelters representatives were conducted. The result shows varying understandings whether the numbers of women seeking help has changed since the outbreak of the Corona Virus in Sweden. However, all of the informants share a strong belief that intimate partner violence has increased during the pandemic. The informants’ explanations for this development derives from a structural theoretical standpoint, while also pointing to individual factors that may be enhanced during the crisis and increase the risk of intimate partner violence.

I denna studie har vi undersökt husdjurens roll och påverkan på våldsutsattas uppbrott från relationer där det förekommit våld. Vi har genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med personal på skyddade boenden och kvinnojourer tagit del av vad de har för kunskap, erfarenhet och egna resonemang kring mäns våld mot kvinnor och barn samt uppbrottsprocessen där det finns husdjur med i bilden. Genom en tematisk analys tog vi oss närmare respondenternas arbetssätt, personliga- och organisatoriska förutsättningar samt utmaningar i arbetet med våldsutsatta och deras husdjur. Resultatet visar på en varierande kunskapsnivå och syn på husdjurens betydelse. Det vi kan se i studien är att husdjuren inte är uteslutna från våld i hemmet och våldet är både ett straffrättsligt lindrigt och ett känslomässigt effektivt sätt att skada även de tvåbenta i hushållet. Husdjuren kan vara en starkt kvarhållande faktor och möjligheten att rädda husdjuren från våldsutövaren kan vara en fråga om liv och död för husdjuren. För människorna som ändå lyckas lämna utan att ta med sig djuret kan det innebära stora trauman, känslor av skuld och skam samt en risk att hon till slut väljer att gå tillbaka till förövaren.Vi har tagit del av respondenternas tankar och förslag på framtida lösningar och önskemål. Studien visar att problemet med djurens utsatthet i våldsamma relationer är något som på flera sätt ingår i ett aktivt förändringsarbete på flera boenden just nu och med hjälp av kunskap och förståelse går det att rädda liv. / In this study we have examined the role and effect that pets have on victims of violence’s process of separation from relationships where violence exists. With semi-structured interviews with the staff from shelters and women’s shelters, we learnt more about their experience, knowledge, and reasoning around the violence in relationships and breakups where pets are present. Through a thematic analysis we have approached the respondents’ work procedures, organizational- and personal conditions as well as challenges in the work with victims of violence and their pets. The results show a varying knowledge level and view of the importance of pets. The study shows that the animals are not excluded from the domestic violence and that the violence is both punitively cheap but also an emotionally effective way to also harm the two-legged in the household. The animals can be a strong detaining factor and the opportunity of saving the animals from the perpetrator can be a matter of life and death for the animal. For the people that still manage to leave without bringing the animal with them it can amount to large trauma, feelings of guilt and shame, and that she in the end chooses to go back. We also got to take part of the respondents' thoughts and suggestions for future solutions and wishes. The study also shows that the problem with vulnerability of animals is something that in many ways is part of an active work for change in several shelters at this moment and that with the help of knowledge and understanding it is possible to save lives.