Consórcio Regional de Promoção da Cidadania (Regional Consortium for the Promotion
of Citizenry: ‘Mulheres das Gerais’): participation in the 1st World Conference of
Women’s Shelters
Edmonton, Canada, September 2008
An experience to be shared…
by
Andréa Maria de Oliveira Chelles
Thematic coordinator, Regional Consortium: ‘Mulheres das Gerais’
The central theme for the Mulheres das Gerais Consortium is the fight against all forms of
violence against women. During its first year it has been working to develop a collaborative
administration for the Casa Abrigo, a shelter for women who are in situations of gender violence
and protecting those who are at risk of death, for example, threatened by a partner.
Thus my participation in the 1st World Conference of Women’s Shelters gave me the
opportunity to acquire new knowledge and to offer our lessons from the 12 years of experience
of the Belo Horizonte Shelter, its methodological aspects in the sheltering of women and their
young children who request these services.
More than 800 delegates, from more than 50 countries and all continents, races, language,
sexual, generational, economic, cultural, and political backgrounds, discussed the politics of
fighting violence against women. We worked to create links, making the Conference fruitful to
international solidarity, and to consolidate a world network of Shelters for Women in Violent
Situations. It was necessary to talk about the isolation, the exhaustion, the lack of visibility and
fragility of programs; as well as what management techniques the shelters use in dealing daily
with feelings of insecurity, lack of resources and lack of public policies. The tone of the
conference remained positive, even though it is a gloomy subject, as it worked in search of
viable mechanisms to share resources and exchange experiences at the global level.
During the Conference, we had access to different realities of greater or smaller degrees of
cruelty and unusual resources used in intervention, but the concept of gender violence in the
whole world remains the same: maintaining unequal gender relations. Some examples are
Iceland’s public protests of 50 thousand women and first woman president in the world;
Mexico’s Women’s National Institute from the Federal Government, which directs national
politics towards gender perspectives in different states; the Edmonton Shelter in Canada where
gender equality is taken for granted and resources are widely spread, prompt and efficient, but
might perhaps lack consideration of the origins of gender violence, its social implications, and a
critical vision in relation to the conditions by which society is organized – rooted in unequal
relations of power. Diversity within a country can be seen in the contrast between Edmonton
and Quebec, where the University develops scientific methodologies, such as the evaluation of
the security of the victim, supporting programs that fight against gender violence.
Other examples were presented by Rosa Logar that focused on the realities in Europe,
supporting the ageless limit of the sheltering of women, a shelter focused in protection, support,
1st World Conference of Women’s Shelters
8-11 September 2008
1
trauma solution rather than simply a roof; and also by Rita Smith, who describes the timelines of
conferences, conventions and laws in the United States, and the role of child custody in issues of
domestic violence.
This conference has inaugurated means for exchanging knowledge, and has highlighted the
revolutionary aspects of the Regional Consortium: ‘Mulheres das Gerais’, which focuses on new
metropolitan arrangements that seek to work on the social thematic such as the fight on violence
against women. It dealt clearly with the inversion of values, where action based on a gendered
perspective becomes a priority and relies on a robust juridical structure. Through federative
collaboration and planned action consortia promote sustainability, seeking to improve the
quality of life for all the population. We still cannot predict the impact of these actions, but the
lessons learned throughout the implementation of the project gives us an indication that we have
reached a change in paradigm.
[translated and summarized from the Portuguese – November 2008]
1st World Conference of Women’s Shelters
8-11 September 2008
2