Chinese women's shelters adopt face-saving approach
- Source: Global Times
- [21:51 January 18 2010]
- Comments
As a result, there are only a few shelters that still remain open in Nanjing from the original 20.
However, the government has taken a new approach to the situation. The current empha-sis in local areas is on a community center which focuses on social services and can also provide facilities where a woman might be able to stay, if necessary. There are currently 154 community centers in Nanjing.
This model puts an emphasis on prevention of violence and keeping the family unit intact. The community center becomes a social services unit which could provide education, legal advice, marriage mediation, job training and psychological counseling as a means toward this end.
The Western model focuses more on establishing a separate space for the victim and then helping them through the crisis and to be able to be independent. The Chinese approach is more focused on restoring harmony in the family, working toward a resolution that can prevent a break up.
How useful this is to women living with violent men, on the other hand, is an open question. To many activists it seems like an approach designed to force women back to their abusers, and to shame those who want to escape altogether.
However, the community center approach does make it easier to seek help by elimi-nating some of the stigma that women may feel about going to a shelter. By combining many services together, the problem can be dealt with in a more holistic way and help can be sought in a more indirect, face-saving manner.
When I think back to that young boy on the train, I wonder if his mother knows that there are places to go and people who can help victims of domestic violence.
Hopefully, the innovative solutions being pioneered through community centers will be able to help his family as well.
The author is an MA candidate at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American studies. globaltimesopinion@yahoo.cn. Lisa Moore contributed to this article
