Home for children and adults, victims of domestic violence "Duga – Zagreb"
Our ongoing work on preventing and eliminating violence against elderly women
Why we focus on supporting elderly victims of domestic violence
In these troubling times of high rates of femicide cases in Croatia, especially regarding elderly women killed by their sons or persons close to them, we decided to place a particular emphasis on preventive actions in the protection and support of older victims of domestic violence. Although older women experience all forms of violence, there is a lack of data on its prevalence, primarily because no recent national research has been conducted to collect such data. The unavailability of data leads to a lack of protection mechanisms, limited victim support services, and scarce prevention programmes.
Our work on the project “Centre for Integration”
With this in mind, we would like to introduce you to the work we are currently doing in this field. First, in the past two years, during the implementation of the project “Centre for Integration”, our goals were to raise awareness and to widen our support towards the elderly victims of domestic violence.
As part of the “Centre for Integration” project (2020 - 2022), we launched an SOS phone line for elderly victims of domestic violence, which was integrated into our pre-existing counselling centre. Furthermore, we carried out a campaign named “You have the right to old age without violence!” to increase the visibility of domestic violence against the elderly. The campaign, which included TV appearances, posters and leaflets, was a call for action to report violence and seek support. In addition, we held an online round table on the subject, which included experts supporting elderly victims of domestic violence, representatives of the City of Zagreb and our institution.
From this project, we learned that older women who are victims of violence face unique barriers to seeking help. Understanding their experiences, abusers’ tactics, and systemic barriers is critical to developing effective responses. The immense shame that older survivors feel and a lack of support services discourage them from talking about what happened. The World Health Organisation estimates that only 1 in 24 cases of violence against the elderly is reported[1].
[1] Source: WHO, Elder Abuse Fact Sheet, 2018. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abuse-of-older-people
Newly launched – project “puSHEd - Protect, Understand, Support: Help the Elderly”
Consequently, after finalising the “Centre for Integration” project, we started a new project last year in June – called “puSHEd - Protect, Understand, Support: Help the Elderly”.
This project is implemented by the association B.a.B.e. in partnership with the City of Zagreb, Home “Duga-Zagreb” and the "Zajednički put" Foundation with the support of the Ombudsman, the Association for Support of Victims and Witnesses and the European Social Network.
The project aims to prevent and combat gender-based violence against older women by developing gender-specific responses in providing support to victims and raising the capacity of relevant stakeholders in the protection and support system. Additionally, partners are raising awareness and improving the community's response to gender-based violence against older women. Our goal is to increase reporting and improve prevention efforts.
The project relies on the Istanbul Convention and aims to promote gender equality and non-discrimination as key European values and fundamental principles for eradicating gender-based violence against older women. The project was financed with funds from the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme of the European Union.
We have already carried out a dozen semi-structured interviews with elderly women victims of domestic violence and three focus groups with experts who work in this field at different levels (from various institutions, homes, the City of Zagreb, shelters for victims of violence, associations, etc.). The goal has been to map out the needs and experiences of elderly victims and the challenges that we face when trying to improve support. With information from the interviews and focus groups, we are currently developing a training module/handbook on a sensitive approach towards working with elderly victims of domestic violence. Afterwards, we plan to organise training for experts (including health care providers such as nurses.), emphasising the needs of older women victims of violence.
The special intersection of violence on elderly women
Although violence against older women perpetrated by partners or family members should be considered in the context of age and gender, it often remains on the margins between intimate partner violence and violence against the elderly. For example, the definition of elder abuse only considers age, downplaying that women disproportionately experience such violence. Similarly, the discussion of intimate partner violence highlights how it is rooted in gender inequality with little or no attention to age. Unlike younger women, women's experiences of violence in older age are mixed with the ageing process. For example, older women are more likely to write off the physical and mental effects of violence as a normal part of the ageing process[2].
As professionals, being aware of these barriers allows us to understand their needs better and, as a result, take a more flexible and creative approach to support.
[2] Source: Pathak N., Dhairyawan R. & Tariq S. (2019). The experience of intimate partner violence among older women: A narrative review. Mar; 121: 63–75. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6546119/
