The use of ‘empowerment’ among organisations supporting victims of domestic violence in Sweden

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the prevalence and character of ‘empowerment’ as an approach used by women's shelters, crime victim support groups and municipal crisis centres that provide support for battered women in Sweden. The study was based on a mail survey distributed among representatives of local crime victim support groups and women's shelters run by non-governmental organisations and the public sector (N = 207). The survey showed that empowerment was perceived as similar to the already established ‘help to self-help’ approach. Empowerment was described as a tool for individual change rather than collective action, although links to power-sensitivity and social change did appear in some answers. Contrary to expectations, the use of empowerment was not accompanied by comments on problematic power relations and difficulties in merging a non-directive approach with professional responsibilities. Using neo-institutional theory, results were interpreted in relation to established work-patterns and problems that empowerment was perceived to solve.

Syftet med artikeln är att undersöka vilken förekomst och karaktär ‘empowerment’ som ansats har i kvinnojourer, brottsofferjourer och kommunala kriscentrum som stödjer våldsutsatta kvinnor i Sverige. Studien är baserad på en enkät som distribuerats till representanter för ideella brottsofferjourer och kvinnojourer samt kommunala kriscentrum (N = 207). Enkäten visade att empowerment uppfattades på ett liknande sätt som det redan etablerade begreppet ‘hjälp till självhjälp’. Empowerment beskrevs som ett verktyg för individuell förändring snarare än kollektiv handling, även om social förändring och maktkänslighet nämndes i vissa svar. Tvärtemot våra förväntningar uteblev kommentarer om problematiska maktrelationer och svårigheter att foga samman ett icke dirigerande empowerment förhållningssätt med ett professionellt ansvar. Resultaten tolkades med utgångspunkt i nyinstitutionell teori, med fokus på hur empowerment har översatts och anpassats till etablerade arbetssätt inom den svenska kontexten. Inom denna kontext har empowerment framstått som en lösning på spänningar och problem som organisationerna har att hantera.

Keywords:

• violence against women
• women's shelters
• empowerment
• help to self-help
• policy translation
• victim support

Nyckelord:

• våld mot kvinnor
• kvinnojourer
• empowerment
• hjälp till självhjälp
• policy översättning
• brottsofferstöd

Acknowledgements

The study is part of a Ph.D. project of the first author. It was funded by a grant from the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority, headed by the second author. The first author collected the data and contributed to the analysis and the writing of the manuscript. The second author contributed to the analysis and wrote the bulk of the text. Useful comments were provided by Staffan Blomberg, Katarina Jacobsson and Eva Johnsson.

Notes

1. Most crime victim support groups, municipal crisis centres and some centres for young women did not list sheltered housing as a core activity as they did not provide it.