The first safe house in the UK for victims of domestic and sexual abuse aged over 45 will open this month in Teeside, north-east England.
The launch by Eva Women’s Aid will coincide with a “45+” campaign by the charity targeting older women, many of whom may have endured decades of domestic violence, and training professionals to identify signs of abuse in older victims.
“It is often assumed that domestic violence is mainly experienced by younger women,” said Richinda Taylor, chief executive of Eva. “This in itself is a barrier to disclosure and sadly older women experience many more barriers compared with younger women, and can be even more reluctant to report violence.
“We are also finding that some older women are locked into a cycle of abuse that first started when public attitudes were very different and might not know any different,” she added. “We already run two safe houses for victims and have come to realise that it’s not appropriate to have a mix of ages in properties. Women of different ages need different packages of support, despite suffering all-too similar abuses.”
Wendy, an older woman who sheltered in one of Eva’s mixed-age safe houses said it would have helped her to have a specialist refuge.
“When you have varying age groups, the older women tend to take on a mothering role and look after the younger ones,” she said. “They then hide behind that and don’t deal with their own problems.
“Older women have also been in these abusive relationships for a long time, where everything has been done for them because of their partner being so controlling,” she added. “They have to learn all that again, a process which is hampered when you’re in a place where there’s a mix of ages.”
