IIIb. THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS

A total of 13 key informants were interviewed, 6 in one research site and 7 in the other. Key informants were identified on the basis of their knowledge about violence against women, or their work in this area as employees or advocates and/or, their involvement in the issue as community residents.. They included front-line service delivery personnel, directors of various community agencies, transition houses, and Victim Services, as well as local police officers and counsellors. Key informants were selected by the community researchers on their basis of referrals from others, the particular reputation of a potential informant, and their own knowledge of individuals who have played an active role in the area of violence prevention and intervention.

Although interviewees were asked a standard set of questions, their responses cohered around certain dominant themes. These are delineated below and illustrated with quotes from the interview transcripts. In addition, other issues that were not dominant in the sense of being articulated by all or most of the interviewees, are included as they highlight related factors concerning woman abuse in rural settings.

Overview of the Questions

Interviewees were asked to respond to 11 questions. A sample of these questions can be found in Appendix C. Questions dealt with their perceptions of levels of violence in their communities, the specific aspects of rurality that influence women who are living in abusive situations, factors that lead to woman abuse; the kinds of abuse that women in their communities are most vulnerable to; factors that help or hinder women seeking safety or attempting to leave an abusive relationship, and the specific barriers they might encounter. Additionally, interviewees were also asked to define the kind of isolation that woman living with abuse experience and factors that contribute to it. In order to elicit specific examples, interviewees were encouraged to recount particular cases they had heard about or dealt with in the course of their work. The final set of questions dealt with the availability, accessibility and adequacy of services in their communities. Interviewees were also asked to provide recommendations for prevention and intervention strategies that could assist women in abusive relationships.

Overview of the Themes

Key informants provided a wealth of information about the nature of woman abuse and the quality of services available to help survivors in rural communities. Their responses have been organized by topical category and are presented below. The most predominant themes that emerged in the data include: the role of patriarchy and socialization; impoverishment of and lack of opportunities for women; the current socio-economic climate; isolation; community intimacy and lack of confidentiality; lack of service availability and response; fear and danger; and, social stigmatization.

1. FACTORS LEADING TO WOMAN ABUSE

The key informants were asked what factors (e.g., events, conditions, circumstances) they believed contributed to woman abuse generally and to the abuse of rural woman in particular. Key informants offered diverse answers in response to this question. However, most of the explanations focussed on the ways in which the patriarchal nature of society encourages the degradation and domination of women.

Patriarchy

Of the 13 interviewees, 3 directly attributed woman abuse to the patriarchal structure of society. These respondents pointed out that predominant social values portray women as inferior, thereby justifying the mistreatment and sexual abuse of women. As one informant said:

What leads to woman abuse is 6,000 years of patriarchy which has historically imposed an unnatural order that's kept in place by violence and the threat of violence. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

Media

Three respondents felt that the media are instrumental in perpetuating and legitimizing violence against women. As one informant explained:

Media. It demoralizes women. It demeans them. It doesn't give them value or worth. They are possessions, tits and ass. The Barbie. The songs, the music. … On TV, how is it that someone can get shot and then appear the following week, healthy and happy. Television doesn't teach consequences. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Another respondent argued that the media encourage tolerance of violence in general, thereby making it difficult to teach that violence against women is unacceptable.

Socialization and Gender Roles

Five informants believed that socialization of gender roles contributed to woman abuse. In particular, some noted the greater acceptance of aggression and the lesser acceptance of disclosure for boys.

We socialize boys to be assertive and aggressive. Girls just want to be nice. They don't want to tell that guy, no, that is not okay. They don't want to be "bitchy." (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

One informant cited the social pressures on men to act as financial providers and the resulting ascription of power to men as heads of households. Another informant observed how homophobia operates to inhibit men from expressing anger or caring:

… I have had one guy phone me and come to see me because he was afraid to be angry … his sensitivity wondered very deeply about whether this implied something about his sexual identity, that he was caring about these things, maybe he wasn't that much of a man … That I think is still a huge, huge problem amongst boys growing up. … I have worked with quite a few adolescent boys, individually, and it is a huge fear. (Key Informant 2, Rural Ville)

Impoverishment of Women

Five out of the 13 key informants related woman abuse to women's economic dependency on men. In particular, reasons for both entry into and inability to leave abusive relationships were ascribed to inequalities in education and other opportunities, women's greater impoverishment, and the stigmatization of receiving social assistance. As this informant stated:

The women live in such desperate conditions sometimes that if a man comes along, no matter what kind of a jerk he is, they get in a situation that could be worse or abusive. They need money and shelter. (Key Informant 4, Rural Ville)

Addiction

Three key informants felt that narcotic and alcohol abuse were factors that perpetuated or escalated existing woman abuse. As one of them said:

Alcohol and drug abuse play a large part as it affects judgment and reasoning ability and all those other cognitive skills that people need to function in the world. … The use of alcohol and drugs is one of the major contributing factors. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

History of Abuse

Five participants hypothesized that the abuser's past history of being abused or witnessing violence in the home contributed to the violence against other women in his life. However, one informant countered this view, stating:

There are a lot of people who have been abused in their lives and there are a lot of people who don't abuse and carry that forward. … Growing up in an abusive family doesn't necessarily dictate 100 percent of the time that you are going to be that way as well. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Socio-Economic Marginalization of the Abuser

Almost half of the key informants (6) suggested that the marginalized status of the abuser was related to his need to dominate through violence. This marginalization was defined both economically and socially. As one informant noted:

His own experience is marginalized. He has learning disabilities. He's the kid everybody calls a loser. He doesn't have positive experiences. (Key Informant 1, Rural Ville)

However, another key informant disagreed and emphasized that the gender-based dynamics of power and control are independent of financial issues.

And what contributes to them striking, dominating and controlling their partner, doesn't necessarily have to be a financial situation. Many people who are well off are still dominating, controlling types … there's no question that the domination in the relationship, the controlling, has been going on for years and years. (Key Informant 1, Country Town)

2. PREVALENCE OF ABUSE

Perceptions Regarding Levels of Violence

Interviewees were asked to comment on their perceptions regarding the level of woman abuse in their communities. Specifically, they were asked whether these levels had increased, decreased or remained the same and to identify the basis upon which their views were founded.

None of the key informants reported that the level of violence in their communities had declined in recent years. Seven reported that violence against women had increased and five that it had remained the same. An informant who is also a front-line service delivery worker noted a dramatic increase, stating that:

Our stats are going up quite dramatically, we've housed 50 percent more women last year than we had the year before, so that was a dramatic jump. And our crisis calls are going up. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

When asked how they arrived at their conclusion about the level of violence in the community, only one participant based her observation primarily on newspaper coverage. In contrast, other informants remarked on the lack of media coverage of violence against women. As one of them said:

I don't see a lot of media coverage. Both the local paper and the city paper fail to report cases of violence unless there is a death. . . .[police] statistics are turned over to the newspaper, but they are not necessarily reported. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Twelve of the 13 informants based their conclusions on their own work or work in the community. This included the number of referrals and intakes at their place of work and/or observations of specific cases.

Nine informants suggested that a rise in the number of reported incidents of violence was partially attributable to greater education about violence against women and an increased awareness of resources. One informant felt that the increased awareness about violence had resulted in women leaving abusive relationships earlier, thereby contributing to a greater use of crisis facilities.

3. TYPES OF ABUSE

Key informants characterized the different types of abuse experienced by women in their communities. These included: stalking, social domination and control, and economic abuse.

Stalking

Two participants reported that the small size of rural communities often facilitated stalking by romantic partners of both the woman survivor and of front-line service providers. As this informant said:

It's not easy for me to be anonymous or hide out, even in a community of [several thousand] people … if somebody decides to stalk me - even somebody I don't even know, just somebody I work with, or I've done something publicly - somebody could easily stalk me (Key Informant 1, Rural Ville)

Social Domination and Control

Nine out of 13 informants stressed that the isolation of a rural community made women particularly vulnerable to emotional and physical control by their abusers. As this informant stated:

I think about the emotional abuse and the issue of control. It is much easier to control someone on five acres of land. … It is easy to watch every move someone makes on a small island. The abuser can say, "Hey did you see my partner today?" If you have kids, it is harder to hide. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Economic Abuse

Another type of control described by key informants was financial abuse, whereby women's access to or control over money is highly restricted. This serves to further isolate women and contribute to their dependency on their abusive partners. As this informant noted:

I've seen financial abuse is pretty common … if the abuser is controlling the finances, the woman with money is in almost the same, not quite, but almost the same situation in terms of what they can do immediately as the woman with no money, with no job. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

A consequence of this controlling environment is that women begin to isolate themselves as they feel they are unworthy and they fear retaliation by the abusers. As this same informant added:

… there's a whole psychological or emotional closing in that happens and women who may have been very competent before the abuse, may have been outgoing before the abuse, they start losing confidence and also being afraid to not obey the controlling partner so what they do is really get isolated by that fact. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

The Continuum of Abuse

Five of the informants were unwilling to rank either the effects or prevalence of different types of abuse, but rather indicated that their communities experienced all forms of abuse. Some insisted that the types of abuse could not be separated on the basis of severity and often operated together. As this informant stated:

There is physical abuse. There is mental abuse. There is financial abuse. … Anywhere from a push to the guy taking a baseball bat to her. (Key Informant 7, Rural Ville)

Another participant felt that the different forms of abuse could not be separated based on their impact:

…there is certainly emotional abuse and frequently physical abuse. … I've seen emotional abuse being almost as devastating or as devastating to the individual experiencing it as prolonged physical abuse so I don't differentiate in terms of impact between any of these abuses any more. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

But one informant noted that, although rural women experience a range of abuse, only extreme abuse tends to be acknowledged by the community:

… the community is very adamant and gets very self-righteous if it's a woman who comes home after an assault in a wheelchair. If it's an extreme. Then they support her. But if it's the other shades of abuse and he has any status, this community goes into the mythology of, "She's hysterical. If it's so bad, why doesn't she leave him? Everybody's responsible. What's her part in it?". (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

4. FACTORS SPECIFIC TO RURAL LIFE

Most of the key informants (9 out of 13), stated that the causes of violence against women in rural areas were not unique, but rather were similar to those underpinning violence against women in general. As this informant said:

If they're going to be dominating and controlling, they're going to be that whether they're in the city or in the country. (Key Informant 1, Country Town)

However, a few informants did distinguish factors that they felt contributed to and intensified the experience of violence against women in rural or small communities. The two themes most commonly mentioned were intimacy of the community and isolation. Other factors identified were: isolation, sexism; forced relocation; accessibility of weapons; lack of services; lack of utilities such as telephones; and, lack of transportation.

Intimacy of the Community

The intimacy of a small community was described by all of the key informants. One interviewee noted that this context increases pressure to conform to community norms:

I've lived in towns where there's just one way. If you're beyond that, you don't fit in, you never fit in, you don't talk about your problems, you don't turn to anybody else. (Key Informant 1, Rural Ville)

As a result of this climate, one informant cautioned:

… everyone pretty well knows everyone else's business. This is isolating. You can immediately ostracize a whole group of people. As a woman, I would be careful about who I told what to. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

This same participant observed how the intimacy of the community also affects the willingness of children to disclose abuse in their home.

The kids don't want to talk about what goes on at home because they know I might know someone. I am bound by confidentiality, but they still wonder who I know. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Participants highlighted the lack of confidentiality that occurs within rural communities and the impact of this on women living with abuse.

It is a very small community and somebody knows somebody and word travels quickly. If a woman is afraid of her partner, chances are she won't say anything because everybody knows who he is and everybody knows who she is. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

In addition, this leads to a greater sense of shame, which can discourage women from disclosing or leaving.

Being a small place, the shame factor is there. Everyone knows what everyone else is doing and I think that may add to the fear, to the woman's fear of reporting and her fear of what people may say. (Key Informant 7, Rural Ville)

One participant described how the interaction of these factors may make rural women feel that it is safer to stay than to leave abusive relationships.

… I think rural women who are going to want to stay in their own community after they leave the relationship almost have a sense that it's safer to continue to live with the abusive man because at least they can keep an eye on him and know what he's doing, as opposed to living separately form him and not knowing when he's going to come around and knowing that there may not be a response if he does. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Isolation

Key informants were asked to describe the kind of isolation rural women living in abusive relationships experience and to identify any factors that contribute to it. All of the informants addressed isolation as a part of the abuse and provided information about its nature.

Social and Geographic Isolation

All of the informants expressed concern over the impact of physical isolation on women living with abuse in rural communities. They suggested that, as a result of the isolation, women did not have adequate protection and intervention strategies were not as effective. As one informant said:

Isolation, number one. Isolation is not having a neighbour next door who can hear the screaming and phone the police. Isolation is having the man lock the woman in the house and go to work and never be questioned. Isolation is, again, having no neighbours to run to for assistance. If you run out in the middle of the night, you are running into the woods. Isolation is a woman's fear that the community will find out. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Women living with abuse in rural areas also experience social isolation. They are cut off from their network of friends or family. Visible signs of abuse deter them from interacting with others in public settings. Economic abuse further restricts their ability to leave or to engage in activities where they are likely to meet others. As this informant stated:

Well you're not going to be tripping out at the mall or joining any women's groups if you've got black eyes are you? Or if you've got visible bruises. … You're not going to find a lot of battered women have credit cards, have bank accounts. (Key Informant 4, Country Town)

Relocation

Two of the informants reported incidences of women whose spouses had relocated the family to a rural community so that isolation and unavailability of resources would prevent them from escaping. As one of them said:

… something that women tell us when they come through here out of abusive situations in rural settings is that their partners moved them to a rural setting in order to keep them isolated, in order to be distanced from police. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Another added:

We've had men specifically move the women here because there are no police on the island and to isolate them. And there's no bus service here so there's no transportation. For her to get out, often means she runs through the woods to a neighbour's house. That's the usual scenario. That she's running for her life. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

Cultural Isolation

Another respondent noted the isolation experienced by Aboriginal women living with abuse on reserves. As she said:

Growing up on a reserve, that isolates a person immediately and as far as off reserve people are concerned, it's really no different than anybody else … it's the reserve which creates the isolation which creates the lack of knowledge which creates the whole thing and then if there's an abusive situation that's happening there, there's no place to go. There is no place because this is your life and you've grown up on the reserve and this is how you've been raised and this is your husband and that's all there is to it. There's no other alternative. (Key Informant 2, Country Town)

Cultural isolation was also identified as a problem facing immigrant women who do not have the language skills to access support and services. Additionally, as one informant said, immigrant women are also threatened with deportation if they disclose the abuse.

Then there's also new Canadian women that are told, "If you say or do anything, you'll get sent back or we'll all get sent back or I'll get sent back" (Key Informant 4, Country Town)

Transportation

Eight of the 13 informants cited the lack of transportation in rural areas as a major factor impacting on women living with abuse. Without adequate public transportation or access to one's own vehicle, women experiencing abuse are not be able to leave. An added factor is the cost of transportation. As one informant stated:

The mere fact that you don't always have access to a bus. You don't always have access to a phone. In the city, when you say, here is a safety plan, make sure you go to the neighbour and call, well shit, here your neighbour could be two kilometres away. The ability to flee is not there at all times. Where are you going to go after 8:15 in the evening? In some areas, you have to be able to get to a ferry. You have got to get to the transition house. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Other participants (e.g., Key Informant 6, Rural Ville) noted the unreliability of local taxi service and the difficulty women face in reaching their long awaited appointments. One emphasized that:

It takes a day out of your life to go to legal aid, victim assistance, or the court system. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Lack of Utilities and Facilities

The need for services to facilitate crisis reporting and mobility was clearly emphasized by two of the informants who stressed that telephones are not always accessible in rural areas.

A bus. Transportation. Phone access. There are people here without phones and they have kids and they are in violent relationships. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Another described how abusers remove the telephone in order to keep women isolated. As she put it:

Women tell us that when he goes to work, he unplugs the phone and takes it with him. … Or when he comes home he can check and see who she's called (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Sexism

While sexism was identified as one of the contributing elements of woman abuse, the particular expression of sexism in rural areas was mentioned by several key informants. One informant who provides services to women survivors described her experience of hearing them discuss their abusers. As she noted, the sexism and degradation of women were common in all the stories she had heard.

One woman was describing the traits of these guys and everyone in the group thought they had gone out with the same man. There were a lot of common threads. Sexual coercion. Drug and alcohol abuse. Non-communication in families. Ridicule about dress. Emotional battering. You're stupid and you'll never make it without me. One was being forced to perform deviant sexual acts. One was harassment from an employer. A lot of them were living in minimal accommodations. (Key Informant 4, Rural Ville)

Accessibility of Weapons

Three informants observed the greater accessibility to weapons for abusers within rural communities which in turn puts women living in abusive situations at high risk. As she said:

She can call the ambulance, 911, but they will not go if there's any weapons involved. And a lot of these guys have guns for hunting deer or knives … because we're rural, there's more likely to be a hunting gun or a hunting knife around or even to gut fish. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

5. FACTORS INFLUENCING RURAL WOMEN'S DECISIONS TO STAY OR LEAVE

Key informants identified several factors that specifically impact on women's decisions to stay or leave the relationship. While some of these are common to all women who have experienced abuse, their specific expression within rural areas is intensified by other considerations. The particular issues that influence women's decisions were identified as: poverty and limited employment opportunities; impact on the lives of their children; fear of retaliation and ongoing harassment; loss of home and community; social stigma of being abused; community denial and woman blaming, and their own commitment to the relationship.

Poverty and Financial Dependence

Nine of the key informants indicated that economic barriers prevent women within their communities from leaving abusive relationships. One said:

In an average relationship, when partners separate, women drop at least two economic levels. When you are in a violent relationship, you don't have that level to begin with. Finances are controlled by the partner. You probably have kids with you. So you are now alone in a place with no money, no resources, possibly no skills and no self-esteem. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

A lack of local employment opportunities for women makes financial independence and survival difficult in a rural community.

There's a small local economy, most of the jobs are for men. They're in construction and road repair and that sort of thing so many women have really no place to earn any money and it's very difficult for them to be proactive even if they are able to be proactive to get support if they have no money or very limited funds. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

One participant emphasized that women are afraid of the poverty that can result from leaving:

Economically, if she doesn't have anything to fall back on, she won't leave. She doesn't want her kids to go bare foot. She doesn't want to live on the streets. (Key Informant 7, Rural Ville)

Yet another reiterated this point by noting that most women who leave abuse must turn to social assistance:

… basically for a woman to leave an abusive relationship, for most women, means they go on welfare and are faced with being a single mother with no money basically. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

Another interviewee identified housing and child care as primary needs facing women leaving abusive relationships.

Children

An area of concern for women leaving abusive relationships is the fate of their children. Informants noted the psychological impact of violence on children who witness it. Others pointed out how children are used as hostages to ensure that women return to the abusive relationship. As they put it:

… she is going to phone us to say that it has happened, she's crying, she doesn't know what to do. We end up sending a taxi out to her to pick her up and bring her in and then, very often have to then send her back out in a cab to the kid's schools to collect the kids and get them in because once she's gone missing from the house, it's usually what he'll do is go and grab the kids. And the kids almost become hostages for her return. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Fear and Danger

Participants consistently emphasized the danger of living in and ending abusive relationships. Ten of the 13 key informants interviewed indicated that fear of retribution from their abusive partners prevented many rural women from leaving. In particular, women faced death threats when attempting to leave:

… women are telling us, in very large numbers, that death threats are a part of what they deal with. That's not uncommon, that's not the minority of cases, that's the vast majority. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Women's vulnerability to retaliation is higher in an isolated community where transportation is inaccessible or easy to monitor. One informant noted an incident in which the woman's spouse watched each car boarding the ferry to try to stop her from leaving.

Loss of Home and Community

In many situations, women are forced to leave their communities if they want to escape from the abuse. Three of the participants emphasized both the cost and intimidation of re-locating to an urban environment. For example, one informant said:

In a rural community, if a woman is to leave an abusive relationship, it can mean that she has to leave her community. She has to leave her support system, friends, family and everything that is familiar. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

This same interviewee indicated the reluctance of some mothers to re-locate their children out of the rural environment because of the freedom it offers. As she put it:

… a lot of the women in the more rural settings, especially, love what that offers to their children. The kids have animals, they have freedom to run around, it feels very idyllic from the point of view of the kids and a lot of these women are really kind of martyring themselves for the sake of the kids having this lovely lifestyle. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Denial and Victim Blaming

Key informants noted that public response to women survivors was not always positive. They indicated that women are often pressured by others in the community to remain in the abusive relationship. Alternatively, they are often blamed for being in these relationships. As one informant stated:

… the worst thing that can happen is that you'd be told, "Well dear, you're just going to have to cope with that, you married the guy, somehow you have to hold it together." (Key Informant 1, Rural Ville)

A second interviewee noted that this type of response simply discourages women from seeking help:

… there's a kind of emotional isolation that happens for women when they're in a battering relationship but what they're learning is that reaching out for help doesn't get results. It often blows up in their faces. They may have family members who say, "Well you made your bed. You lie in it". They may not be believed in the community. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Two key informants described the type of supportive response they felt was necessary to help women cope. In particular, they stressed the need to be non-judgmental, patient, and understanding, as well as to believe the woman's experience. One interviewee noted:

Well a lot of patience and understanding about the underlying causes of abuse from the people that they deal with, rather than judgment and "Why is she going back?" because often the woman will go back two or three times before she actually really makes the break. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

Lack of Confidentiality

Informants generally indicated that confidentiality is a concern for rural women. A small population results in little anonymity for the woman who is experiencing abuse or attempting to leave the abusive relationship:

Everyone knows everyone. Anonymity is low. Confidentiality is low. … If you have a broken arm and need a plaster for your cast, you have to go to the one drug store. You know the people behind the counter. If you have been raped, and need medication for an STD, the clerks at the drug store will know. Just like the bank tellers know you are on welfare. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Another informant clearly discussed how the close-knit nature of the community defined the issue of abuse based on the relative economic and social standings of the abuser and the woman. According to this informant:

Now the con to that is that if it's only the female victim reaching out and the male perpetrator has a certain degree of economic power in the community or status in one of the organizations, the community is more likely to close ranks on her. It becomes a popularity contest rather than a moral issue. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

In addition, one key informant noted that if the woman had moved into her spouse's community, she was likely to be ostracized by "his" community, and would tend to be afraid to return for custody or other court hearings.

Social Stigma

Four key informants emphasized the reluctance and fear of women in their communities to seek help because of the stigmatization of abuse. In particular, they described women's experiences of shame, guilt, blame, and disbelief. As this informant stated:

Stigma. There is a perception that they are the problem. The stigma, too, is that women are stupid and that they want it. They made it happen. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

One participant noted that the fear of public shame made confidentiality an especially important issue for women living in rural and small communities:

Confidentiality is much more critical than in urban areas because of the shame and the guilt associated with abuse. Women are less likely to seek help in rural areas. It takes them longer to get out of abusive relationships. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Commitment to the Relationship

Informants described how women were often still committed to their partners and to their relationships, thereby finding it difficult to leave. One interviewee explained:

She has spent twelve years with this guy and the situation is not just about abuse, it is about the ending of relationships. It is about the feeling of being a failure. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Another emphasized that, for many women, they want the violence to stop rather than the relationship to end:

… I think calling the police would be classified as attempting … to stop the violence. They don't all want to leave because they still love this man for many reasons. (Key Informant 4, Country Town)

6. ACCESS AND AVAILABILITY OF COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES

Ten of the 13 informants interviewed noted that the primary distinction between rural and urban experiences of woman abuse resided in the unavailability of services and the greater inability to leave the relationship, rather than rurality per se as a cause of abuse. Two key informants characterized existing services as generally insufficient. One distinguished between efficiency of service and quality of service:

… the existing services are definitely not adequate but they are as efficient as hell because they get two people who pay them nothing who go out any time of the day, 365 days a year, for no money and do the job. So I would say they're really efficient but incredibly inadequate. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

Another felt that women in small communities were less likely to seek help because of greater isolation and less access to resources:

Women in abusive relationships are isolated and the isolation is basically intensified in a small community as opposed to a larger community where there is greater opportunity to accidentally come across other people or services that would encourage women to get help. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

One participant emphasized the need for immediate intervention in the context of describing the lack of such services in her community. As she said:

Intervention. If you don't get to them within the first 24 hours, they are gone. You can't reach them the same way. They get the violent episode and then the man turns into a really sweet guy who brings her flowers. In the first 24 hours, women have a stronger vision of the man beating her up. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Four informants raised concerns about who women should trust when seeking help or disclosing abuse. One said:

I tell people who are in abusive relationships to be very cautious about who they trust. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

Existing Community Services

Key informants listed numerous services to which they refer women and which they themselves provide to women. These included short term assessment, family services, crisis lines, family and youth counsellors, alcohol and drug counsellors, after hours emergency mental health services, group homes, workshops, seniors support groups, transition houses, churches, private counselling, food banks, police, victim services, assertiveness training, resources and advocacy, programs aimed at children who witness violence, job training and upgrading, mediation, peer counsellors, and grief counselling. Some participants were specific regarding the quality or the limited nature of these resources. For instance, as this informant reported, the number of times women can access particular services is very limited.

Adult counselling, short term, twelve visits. Emergency workers, six visits. (Key Informant 4, Rural Ville)

Another mentioned the long waiting lists for services:

… You have a six-week waiting list at Mental Health. The crisis counselor down at the crisis centre, you maybe had to wait three days to get in to see the counselor. (Key Informant 2, Country Town)

Crisis Lines

Four informants discussed the usefulness of crisis lines and transition houses. The supportive response of crisis line workers was cited by this participant:

I think it's probably a good idea to phone the crisis line because you'll get somebody there who's going to listen to you without judging and I think that's great, a good place to start. (Key Informant 1, Rural Ville)

Transition Houses

The role of transition houses in helping women escape from abusive relationships was mentioned by three of the informants. In particular, transition houses were considered necessary for women who had no access to safe shelter:

The people who get to the transition house are people who haven't had the government or medical system there for them. Somebody who has support in the family or community may have difficulty leaving, but when they leave, they have some place to go. … Ultimately, the ones who come to the transition house have nothing else. (Key Informant 2, Rural Ville)

One pointed out that the small size and intimacy of the community made it difficult to keep the location of safe houses and transition houses confidential. Two respondents pointed to the injustice and the difficulty of battered women fleeing their homes which their abusers continued to occupy:

Why isn't the man taken out of the house? Why does she have to flee and uproot her children? … Why can't there be a house that these men are taken to and get some education at least around anger management? (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

This informant recounted what one woman faced after escaping abuse and entering a transition house:

She came in with the clothes on her back. She was terrified of going back. She was here four days. Each night, she would get in the nightie we gave her, then wash her clothes and then the kids' clothes. I asked if she had any money and she said no. … She had never shopped. … She wouldn't ask for money, not even to meet her basic needs. … she finally got up enough courage to go to the store. … She got about thirty steps from the door and froze. She said that she couldn't do it. This was a sad story. … The heart with the wind that blows through it. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Counsellors

Eight informants expressed concern about the knowledge and response of private and community-based counsellors to the needs of abused rural women. One recommended against the use of local counsellors in general:

They shouldn't go to a counsellor here. … The counsellors don't recognize the power imbalance and he, the abuser, schmoozes them and fails to present the core problem (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Confidentiality

The lack of confidentiality for women accessing services was also mentioned by a number of key informants. One informant stated that some community counsellors did not understand the critical need for confidentiality in servicing abused women:

In a rural community, so much depends on personality. … A lot depends on the nature of the relationship. There are some therapists who I don't feel recognize the heightened need for confidentiality. Sometimes even a glance at someone or an acknowledgment can be a violation of confidentiality. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

Services for Women of Marginalized Cultures

Five informants indicated the presence, abuse, and needs of Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino, French, Spanish, and German Canadian women and of Aboriginal women within the communities interviewed. However, the majority of key informants (10) were unaware of resources available to women of colour, immigrant women, Aboriginal women, and Francophone women within their communities This seemed to reflect both a lack of knowledge and an absence of services. A few informants indicated some available or past resources and projects. As this informant stated:

… Family Services, they have a little immigrant support program … the Friendship Centre has a talking circle and a woman's meeting at times. (Key Informant 2, Country Town)

Another mentioned a past initiative which was not continued because of a lack of funding:

We did a lot of good work teaming up with the Multicultural Society and then it lost a big piece of its funding. We did sort of cross training where we were being trained on multicultural issues and we were giving them information about abuse and we were working together on interpretation services locally and working on doing some outreach into the community. We had our pamphlets translated into the more common local languages, German, Vietnamese, Chinese, Spanish. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Two informants specifically noted the racial, cultural, and language barriers imposed by existing services for woman abuse: One of them said:

I have a real concern, personally, with our agency, that we haven't been more proactive in making sure that we represent the diversity that exists in the community. … But I think that if we're going to welcome diverse groups of women in, we need to reflect that diversity. And so far, I think we've managed to be very white and middle class in our profile and I think that is a problem. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Another added:

I would guess that if you're in crisis, you're probably going to want to speak your native language. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

But, even those informants who were aware of services for women marginalized by race, ethnicity, and language, emphasized that these services were generally less prevalent and inadequate.

There are services available through the band for First Nations women, counselors and outreach workers from the women's centre. There's the Multicultural Centre … but in that particular area, I've got to tell you, I don't know if we have an outreach worker in the area of spousal abuse or victims of violence in relationships. (Key Informant 1, Country Town)

7. INSTITUTIONAL SERVICES

Inadequacy and Lack of Services

Community isolation affects the availability of resources for women after leaving an abusive relationship. Access to income assistance and to court services is limited. As this informant put it:

There isn't an income assistance office here so there is an additional stress in trying to communicate with an FAW (Financial Assistance Worker) in the city. They don't have access to information. There isn't a probation officer here anymore so they don't have access to family justice information and mediation. The closest office is far away so it really prohibits women from being able to see a family court counsellor. (Key Informant 4, Rural Ville)

When women must leave their communities to access services, the issue of isolation re-emerges. One participant observed that women may not feel comfortable in bureaucratic settings unfamiliar to them:

Well, first of all she has to be able to relate to a town which is not her town, it's not her community … she's going to wonder who on Earth is she going to meet there. Is it going to be somebody in a suit that's going to talk bureaucratic language to her? (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

Barriers to services that were mentioned included the lack of affordable child care, housing and transportation costs:

The support group that's available at the ___ does not provide any kind of traveling or child care but can access that through the Ministry of Human Resources but it's very, very difficult. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

Two key informants expressed caution in referring women to available institutional services. One stated:

I won't send anyone anywhere unless I know how the operation works. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

The second felt that it was critical that women who were approaching services for help be accompanied by a person that they trusted. This would be akin to having an advocate. She said:

I would recommend that she take someone that she trusts … if they don't have that, I don't send them anywhere. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Lack of Knowledge about Services

Some informants highlighted how a lack of knowledge about available services prevents many women from being able to leave abusive relationships. Three informants specifically cited the lack of legal and financial knowledge. Two of these participants indicated that a large part of their service provision consisted of education and referral. One noted:

… a lot of what we do is education about the criminal justice system … We empower people by giving them knowledge and so they're sort of part of what's happening. (Key Informant 4, Country Town)

Religious Institutions

Whereas one informant mentioned churches as sites of sanctuary, 3 interviewees were very cautious about referring women to mainstream religious institutions. This participant noted the lack of support of some pastors:

I have heard some women say some pastors really believed that women just need to try harder. (Key Informant 4, Country Town)

Another informant observed that responses from women's church groups have been mixed. One participant felt that the effectiveness of church response was limited by its place in the social structure of society:

Patriarchal religion does not allow for strong feminism. It is not part of their structure. If a Catholic woman is being abused, she is to go to her priest who will keep it confidential. If a Catholic man beats his wife, he can go and be absolved of his sin and then return home to do it again. I don't think there is much support for non-violence there. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

None of the informants discussed the availability or effectiveness of non-Christian religious support even though these faiths are quite prevalent in the rural areas included in this study. One participant, however, critiqued the impact of New Age philosophies on women who are experiencing abuse:

Now you've got the whole new age mentality of blame the victim, it must be her fault, she must be doing something wrong, why can't she learn to keep her mouth shut, why can't she have dinner on the table at the right time if she knows that sets him off? All that stuff is still there. Or, "If my wife did that, I'd bop her too." (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

Health and Social Services

Social Services

Three key informants noted ineffective or inappropriate treatment of women leaving abuse by workers within the various ministries mandated to provide social assistance. As one noted:

I hear a lot from women that financial aid workers from the Ministry of Children and Families are not helpful. They don't understand the bigger scope of what is happening on this island. … You can't necessarily phone social services and say "I am in a violent relationship and would like to get out of it. Can you give me money?" They might say, come in three weeks on Tuesday at 2:30 pm. That would be one of those places that I wouldn't recommend going to first. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Another informant commented on the inadequacy of the welfare system and its deterrent effect on women who are in abusive relationships:

A lot of women will say, "I'll stay with this devil rather than a life of perhaps hopelessness and welfare." Welfare sucks you in … you never have enough money for a decent haircut, you never have enough money for something nice to wear. It's always no, no, no. We don't have money … I mean I did income security. I know how people come in there and then how they look in five years time. (Key Informant 4, Country Town)

One interviewee referred to policies concerning enforced maintenance payments which require survivors to identify their abusers:

A lot of women are concerned about the obligation of obtaining maintenance. Often they have declined maintenance because the partner is abusive and the maintenance may allow them some contact. (Key Informant 4, Rural Ville)

Another criticized regulations that make accompaniment by an advocate unavailable to women:

If she needs welfare, and she is so badly beaten that she can't go over there, or can't talk on the phone, why can't I talk on her behalf? If she can get there, why can't I be with her? Sometimes she is too emotional to speak. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Yet another informant described the bureaucratic barrier that women survivors face when seeking assistance from institutionalized services. She contrasted this to the more welcoming climate of community-based organizations:

… When you go into the Crisis Centre, you can go in, you can sit down, you can grab a cup of coffee and you can start talking to the first person that looks at you … But you cannot do that in a lot of other agencies in town. You've got to make an appointment first of all and then you've got to stand there in front of that desk with that big window there so in case you're going to shoot them, right? And then you've got to wait for your counselor to come out and take you through the locked door, down the long hallways so that you can get to an office where you can sit and finally tell them what your problem is. And by the time they get to that office, they're not interested in talking anymore. The problem has either been made insignificant or they're just so fearful of the whole machine that happens around these agencies that they don't want anything to do with it. And that's basically it. There's no comfort, there's no feeling of welcome or warmth. (Key Informant 2, Country Town)

Health and Medical Services

Seven key informants suggested health and medical services as a resource for women seeking help. One indicated that physicians in her community were, on the whole, supportive, and a second participant observed:

Certain physicians can go beyond the call of duty. There is an after hours emergency mental health response which is frequently dealing with domestic violence. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

This same informant also indicated that the local midwife was helpful:

We now have a legal midwife in town and she is a person who a lot of women feel comfortable talking to. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

One informant expressed reservations about the effectiveness of local hospitals in dealing with woman abuse:

I am a bit nervous about the hospitals. If you ask someone to go to emergency … how the staff deals with it depends on who is on duty … I have had occasions … going in with someone in dire straits and have the shift discharged. (Key Informant 2, Rural Ville)

Another key informant specifically cautioned women survivors of abuse to refrain from contacting the local mental health association:

Stay away from Mental Health … and all related affiliates. (Key Informant 2, Country Town)

The Justice System

Three informants felt the lack of response by the justice system contributed to woman abuse. In particular, they observed, first, a lack of punitive action, and second, a legal bias favouring property laws over personal safety. As this participant said:

A lack of proper judicial remedy. Poor sentences for offenders. Here, it is even worse because you have to go … to court. … Offenses against people seem to have less penalty attached than offenses against money. (Key Informant 7, Rural Ville)

In addition, a lack legal information regarding property and financial rights can deter women from leaving the relationship, because they fear that they will have nothing:

Often his name is on the land title, his name is on the bank accounts. She's been with him for ten years and has six kids but her belief is that all of that belongs to him because that's what he's told her. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Not having knowledge about property rights and laws often makes women more susceptible to financial abuse by their spouses.

Police

The lack of transportation to and from rural areas impacts on service delivery and emergency intervention strategies. Informants referred to the difficulty of obtaining emergency intervention by police. As this interviewee stated:

In a rural community, it is going to take the RCMP an hour to get to you. Forty-five minutes if they are not busy. It is not like there is an RCMP right down the street. There is a time gap in there to worry about if you are that woman. You can make that call to 911, but it may take half an hour. This aggravates the situation. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

For women living in island communities, access to immediate police intervention is contingent on ferry service. One participant indicated that ferries do not operate to her area for 13½ hours each day. Thus, an emergency call in off-hours necessitates alternative transportation by the police to the island. The necessity of response therefore becomes a budgetary consideration. As a result, another interviewee noted:

I think this message has really gotten out to women. There's some validity to it but it's also really unfortunate that, if you're out in a rural area, a peace bond is not worth the paper it's written on because there's no police nearby to respond if you call for help so what good is it. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Two of the 13 informants suggested the police as a viable source of assistance for women leaving abusive relationships. However, 6 others were more cautious about women going to the police alone and 2 recommended that they take an advocate with them. One argued that the police should be accorded more power for confronting abuse:

Let's give the police more power to protect and arrest, to do their job in ensuring that women and children are safe. I am glad the police can lay charges. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

About a third of the informants felt that police response was a limited solution to violence against women.

It may not be the best place to go by yourself. Go with an advocate. … In terms of the RCMP, it depends on what you are seeking from them. If you are looking for them to go and arrest the abuser and you have left the house, their hands are tied. In this case, the police need a warrant. Getting a warrant is complicated. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Seven key informants indicated that the lack of adequate police response contributed to the isolation experienced by women living with abuse in rural areas. One participant described how this diminishes community confidence in the police and the implications of this for women living with abuse:

The general population of women here have very little faith in the RCMP coming because there's so many times they haven't come … A woman … had a circle of gasoline poured all around her house by her ex-husband standing out there with his box of matches. The cops did not show up until the next day. He kept her hostage the whole night and he was just zoned totally out on drugs. And she was in there with her little one year old. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

Another key informant identified problems in the implementation of the BC Violence Against Women in Relationships (VAWIR) Policy:

You need a standardized response. … They are trying for standardized responses, but it is not working. It is only a policy. There is a lot of discretion. If the police walk into a situation, if they think a woman will be a hostile witness, they won't even bother pressing charges. … The procedure needs to be completely followed through in every case. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

One of the informants suggested that a focus on protection rather than on punishment might have broader appeal and be more useful to women leaving abusive relationships:

… most of them … don't want to see their partner go to jail. … So having seen a spouse abuser sentenced to jail is, I don't think, the be all and end all. And I don't think that spells success for women. (Key Informant 1, Country Town)

The Courts and Legal Counsel

There were several concerns raised about the effectiveness of court and legal support. In particular, informants cited the lack of local court services, unavailability of appropriate legal counsel, transportation barriers, lack of safety, and lack of enforcement. For example, one interviewee observed:

If you are a partner of a violent man and you show up to court when he hasn't, you have made an unnecessary and expensive trip. … There is no separate waiting room for the victim and the charged. I want a Victim Services worker with the woman when she goes to court. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Yet another spoke about the lack of competent lawyers who can properly advise women survivors and the re-victimization of women in court:

… you've got women going to lawyers who don't quite know what to ask, who are in total crisis and can't remember what the lawyer's advising her to do. They need somebody there. … That's for a couple of reasons. One is just to observe the court process and make sure that everybody in the court system is doing what they're supposed to do. But also … women have to wait out in the hallway outside the courtroom before they go in for their case to be heard. They're standing practically next to the guy … the men and their lawyers are talking to the women before they go into court and you've got a seriously compromised witness who is too scared to say what happened to her. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

One participant indicated that legal aid was unavailable in her community. Moreover, she noted that when women did access legal aid,

They won't cover property settlements. Women can't qualify for legal aid because they have assets, but they no money. (Key Informant 4, Rural Ville)

Another indicated that court sentences were not successfully followed up (Key Informant 2, Rural Ville).

8. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING SERVICES TO WOMEN

Participants offered numerous suggestions for improving the services available to women survivors of abuse. These included: education and public awareness; implementation of programs that provide women survivors with skills, increased financial support, access to affordable housing, access to better and additional counselling services, increased funding for staff and services, improvements to the legal system, more coordination of services, better police response and representation, more services for women from marginalized communities, effective crisis intervention, and access to transportation.

Education and Public Awareness

Seven of the 13 informants indicated that programs were required to increase awareness of woman abuse and to disseminate information about resources. As one stated:

More awareness. More publicity about what really happens on this island. … That is part of the whole family violence syndrome. No one ever reports that women are assaulted or if they do, it is done in a round about way. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Another suggested:

A two-pronged approach. … Talk about violence, talk about abuse and push it in the community's face. Talk about self-esteem. Talk about self-respect so that people can get to the point where they feel entitled to more. Get pamphlets out. Health Fairs. Community forums. People who are far enough along in their own process can be role models not only to the women coming through, but also to the community at large. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

One informant felt that information needed to be disseminated over the radio and in the newspapers (Key Informant 1, Country Town). Others suggested the need to institute programs in schools that are aimed at violence education and prevention.

Education for women survivors was also mentioned by several key informants. They pointed to the need for workshops on self-esteem and money management that can be offered free or at minimal cost. Two others highlighted the need for more workshops on issues such as custody and access, restraining orders, and other kinds of information that would help women who are leaving or in the process of leaving abusive relationships. In addition, informants suggested various ways by which to communicate information to women in the community. As this informant stated:

… one of the most effective ways to get messages to rural women is a poster on every rural mailbox … women's washrooms in community halls and in the local store, cafe. I think that there needs to be more information out through rural doctors. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Five of the informants suggested the need for increased public awareness, increased awareness among service providers, and a change in attitudes toward violence and woman abuse. Another interviewee stressed the need to educate service providers and the public about the patterns of woman abuse and its seriousness:

… it's not just educating them about the services but it's educating them about what abuse looks like over a period of time. That if a woman is telling you that she's getting death threats, don't minimize that. … (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

Increased Community Services, Funding and Support

Key informants described numerous ways in which services could be expanded or improved. The over-riding theme of responses was the need for more and better integrated services. One informant replied:

No, I don't think the services are adequate. There could be more services and there could be more integration of the services we have. (Key Informant 5, Rural Ville)

In particular, respondents highlighted the need for greater funding of resources and services for women survivors of abuse:

… we need local funding, we need funding for local support … and we need funding for transporting women to the Transition House. We need funding for a community awareness program (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

One interviewee noted that financial support would allow already existing services to continue to build, and a sense of community support to be established:

We have to keep it going, keep the impetus up … we need to have support - and it's not huge … we need some support in building what we've got going already. … It's about establishing community. (Key Informant 1, Rural Ville)

The need for consistent and predictable funding was stressed:

Money, funding of services would help. Consistent money so you can plan accordingly. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Informants also described the need for a transition house that is staffed full time, money or vouchers for transportation, access to an overnight stay when leaving the relationship, money or vouchers for food, child care to allow women to attend appointments, a crisis line operating through direct access rather than a pager, and access to a Financial Aid Worker locally twice monthly. One informant also noted:

… we need financial help to reach out to the Quebecois community and the special needs women in our community. … We need funding for a crisis support team and hopefully these workers will be paid to be supportive and not to become bureaucratized. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

One suggestion that emerged was the implementation of programs to provide abused women with skills and choice:

I'm not so sure that that's the answer, that we just have another resource, another service. … We need more opportunities I think, and we create opportunities for people by letting them grow. … Like, wouldn't it be interesting to have somebody here that you could go talk to about small business stuff. (Key Informant 1, Rural Ville)

One key informant was particularly clear and helpful in providing recommendations to better serve women leaving and surviving abuse:

Advocate for better public service access, give rural women the same access to services. Core funding for the transition house and for an outreach worker. A newsletter that could communicate with other people in other communities. Job readiness training. A drop-in daycare facility. Capital funding for a multi-purpose centre. A swimming pool. A transportation system. … If there was a community chest fund, it could pay for the late night cab needed by the woman in crisis. Corporate incentives to contribute to the chest fund. … Legal aid, family court services, income assistance and daycare. … Using the talents of survivors in the community. Providing them with retraining and empowerment to come back and share their skills. (Key Informant 4, Rural Ville)

The need for more support from the community was discussed. In particular, direct intervention by friends and neighbours to prevent abuse and to enable women to leave was emphasized:

Community support. … If a woman is beaten and then immediately has twelve women at her door surrounding her and staying with her, then the chances of him bothering her are low. If there was community support, a woman wouldn't have to buy food after she has been beaten. (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

One informant also noted that stigmatization of women and children from single parent families makes it more difficult for women to leave abuse:

… if somehow we can remove the public stigma attached to coming forward. When you hear the stigmas of kids from single homes, I mean god, we blame everything now on the fact that kids didn't have a stable home environment to grow up in. (Key Informant 1, Country Town)

A suggestion was also made to re-focus attention on the strength of women surviving and leaving abusive relationships rather than stigmatizing women for having been abused:

We need to get the focus on the positives of the women involved in these situations. Their strength. How they have managed to survive. They think they have no skill, but they kept themselves and their kids alive. (Key Informant 3, Rural Ville)

Health and Social Services

Empathic and Compassionate Services

Key informants generally stressed that encouragement without judgment from the service providers and community residents were pivotal in helping women recover from the abuse. One interviewee observed that community support and involvement was more effective for women compared to counselling.

… she also found other support, linked up with other people in the community. … Got involved in this organization … and came to sort of be a leader … and that's what works, not the counselling. (Key Informant 1, Rural Ville)

Seven informants noted that simply increasing the number of services would not be sufficient, but that services must be provided by the appropriate, knowledgeable individuals. For example, one interviewee replied:

The service providers have to be appropriate. There need to be women cops. … There need to be women cops trained in assault against women. … There needs to be a gender balance in all the services. … Most service providers are male, unless they are volunteers. … Most policy makers are men. … A lot of women who come here, when they call Social Services, if they get a man, they hang up the phone. … You need people who are aware of power imbalances. You don't need, "What did you do this time?" "What did you do to deserve this?" You don't need, "Why don't you just leave the bum?" (Key Informant 6, Rural Ville)

Another noted that the most appropriate service provider may be a woman who has herself survived abuse:

I'm not sure that people who are not survivors themselves or who have not been trained in dealing with survivors would understand what the woman was going through. And there's a real risk of re-abusing the woman. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

Financial Resources

Interviewees stated that the primary need for women leaving abusive relationships was financial assistance. As this participant said:

A lot of the women being abused are from low income families. They don't have much and lots of times they will stay with the man because they have no other money. … A woman will not leave a man if there is no hope of financial independence somewhere. Or to find someone who can give her that without the abuse. (Key Informant 7, Rural Ville)

One key informant suggested that money must be made available to help women leave abusive relationships

Justice System

Key informants emphasized the need for local court services and for provisions to ensure women's safety and comfort in court proceedings. They also called for standardized police responses, faster police response time, local police information campaigns about woman abuse, a local police presence, and access to an advocate to accompany the woman to court and to the police. For example, one informant responded:

We need someone who is officially representative of the criminal justice system. (Key Informant 5, Country Town)

Another interviewee stressed that rural women require reassurance from the police that their safety is a priority:

I think the RCMP need to have a campaign in rural areas where they go in and they somehow get the message out about how long it's going to take to respond, that they value these women, that they will respond to these calls. (Key Informant 3, Country Town)

One key informant specifically mentioned the need for legal aid services and lawyers. As she stated:

There is no legal aid lawyer here. Broaden the criteria of what legal aid will cover. They won't cover property settlements. Women can't qualify for legal aid because they have assets, but they have no money. … We need to have family court here, at least once a month (Key Informant, 4, Rural Ville)

Coordinated Response

Key informants emphasized the need for coordinated services between different institutional and community-based service organizations. As this informant put it:

… a central agency that was able to advise women of their rights in terms of child custody and maintenance issues, income assistance. … A single parents' resource centre … information workshops. (Key Informant 4, Rural Ville)

And another said:

I would really like to see a one-stop place where women can access information about everything they may need … and they need to be central and accessible.. because I don't know a whole lot of battered women that have their own vehicles. (Key Informant 4, Country Town)

An Overall Assessment of Available Resources

One participant summarized the sentiments of many of the informants by saying that the needs of rural and small communities were not being sufficiently considered in the provision of current services to women in or leaving abusive relationships:

And we have to really have a fully informed recognition that rural areas, small islands and First Nations communities have very pressing and very particular needs that are not being met. (Key Informant 6, Country Town)

9. A DESCRIPTION OF ABUSE FROM A KEY INFORMANT

Her partner would put her in the trunk of the car and take her to where he was going to kill her and show her where he was going to kill her and tell her how he was going to do it and where he was going to bury her that nobody would find her. And when the abuse was going to happen, he would take away her teeth because he'd knocked out her teeth when she was very young and he would take away her one and only pair of shoes. And then he would proceed to assault her. And that's violence and it happens everywhere … we hear everything, you hear it all … it starts out maybe with the isolation and maybe the name calling and it's like hurdles. You get over one hurdle and they'll cross the next one. … Your partner will cross one hurdle. If that's successful, then he will cross another one. And the final one is to kill you … there's a whole range of experiences right from the one in the trunk of the car to cutting telephone lines, to taking away keys, to taking away clothes, to cutting up clothes, to throwing women outside the house and locking the doors … women know what he's telling them and he doesn't necessarily have to punch them. But they get the picture real clear. (Key Informant 4, Country Town)