. Feminists Organising Against Gendered Violence

This book investigates the complex relationship that women’s organisations working around violence have with the state, and the strategies and tactics the movements in Sweden and the UK have adopted. It considers the successes the movements have had in terms of service provision and policy change, as well as the compromises they have had to make and costs they have had to suffer. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to second wave feminism and violence against women. Chapter 2 discusses the structural elements that can impact upon the women’s movement and how these affect its ability to influence policy and achieve wider social change. Chapter 3 considers the role of agency. Chapter 4 addresses the motivations of women who choose to become workers in feminist organizations working around gendered violence. Chapter 5 discusses the funding of feminist organisations working around violence and the dilemmas that state funding in particular can produce. Chapter 6 discusses the organisation, structure and function of feminist organisations working around violence. Chapter 7 addresses the emotional difficulties for the researcher who working on issues of sexual violence and the process of learning to listen to trauma stories. The book concludes by returning to the questions central to the research about how the movement has engaged with the state and considers what the future for the women’s movement is in terms of attempting to organise against gendered violence.