Shelters for abused women in Sweden today are transforming. This transformation can be described as a shift from a movement to a market, evolving from a history dominated by the nongovernmental feminist movement. Currently, over half of all shelters are operated by for-profit companies, indicating a formalization, professionalization, and marketization of these shelters.

The proposed symposium will feature three studies on shelters in Sweden. From Marie Cederschiöld University, Veronica Ekström, and Felicia Forthmeiier will present ongoing studies on how different actors (abused women, politicians, social services, and shelter representatives) perceive the quality of shelters. Their research aims to understand how these diverse constructions of quality can be contextualized in the ongoing processes of professionalization and marketization.

1. Domestic violence shelter - from the hallmark of the women's shelter movement to a service for sale on the Swedish welfare market

Felicia Forthmeiier and Veronica Ekström

Shelter is a key intervention for thousands of Swedish women who need to seek support and protection every year due to threats and violence in close relationships. Historically, the nonprofit women's shelter movement has been the sole provider of support and shelter to victims of domestic violence. The Swedish non-profit women's shelter movement was initiated in the late 1970s and has since offered support and later shelter to women and children exposed to violence. It has been a strong voice for women's rights and has promoted men's violence against women as a political issue. In the last decade, there has been a shift in the organization of shelters, where greater political interest in abused women has led to extended welfare services that include abused women. Political reforms have resulted in increased formalization and professionalization of shelters. Notably, sheltered housing is no longer primarily run by nonprofit women's shelters. Instead, it has become an intervention offered on the welfare market where non-profit organizations (women’s shelters) compete with new private profit-making actors for social services' placements in shelters. Through a document study in which we have analyzed a selection of parliamentary prints, we have aimed to understand how this development has taken place and what is the basis for the shift from a women's rights-driven movement's idea of sisterhood as a solution to men's violence against women to the fact that a place in a shelter is now bought as a service on the Swedish welfare market.

2. Quality in shelters for abused women – perceptions of quality among professional actors

Veronica Ekström

While most shelters for abused women in Sweden used to be run by the women’s movement, about half of the shelters are, today, operated by private companies. The social services’ procurement of these shelters has resulted in increased demands for quality and monitoring. The second presentation will focus on results from a research study on perceptions of quality inshelters among local politicians on a municipal level, managers in social services, and shelter representatives. The analysis shows that perceptions of quality range from adherence to the social services’' assignment orders to evidence, cost-effectiveness, and competence among staff both at the social services and shelters. Moreover, an overly ”caring” attitude among staff both at the social services and shelters is portrayed as problematic and unprofessional. Among representatives for shelters, aspects like employed and competent staff, a suitable housing environment, safety, and access to other kinds of support (adjusted for individuals and regarding children) constitute an overall construction of quality in shelters. Moreover, well-functioning social services are necessary for the shelter's possibility to provide good quality. An important conclusion from the two studies is that procurement and placements in shelters can constitute an unwieldy conflict surface where logic and practices typical of both market and welfare are pitted against each other.

3. Alone, Protected and Confined – Abused Women’s Constructions of Quality in Shelters

Felicia Forthmeiier

Intimate partner violence (IPV) shelter is an important and central intervention for women and children exposed to domestic violence. Despite this, we know little about women's perceptions and experiences of residing in shelters and how they define good quality in shelters. This study is based on 19 semi-structured interviews with women who had been staying in shelters and aims to answer how women construct quality in shelters. The thematic analysis reveals a complex and contradictory picture of shelters, where the quality of the housing environment, services, structure, and access to support varies greatly between shelters. We found that women experience feelings of confinement and control due to the structure and regulations of the shelter as well as extensive loneliness during their stay. At the same time, opinions on what good quality of a shelter is, are relatively unanimous; the shelter should be a safe place for recovery, provide a respite from violence, and should offer both counseling and practical support aiming to process previous difficult experiences and to help create a new life free from violence. Some shelters were described as perceiving children only as an appendage to the mother, where no specific adjustments or services were provided to the children, while others took a more holistic family-oriented approach where children's needs were perceived as equal to those of the mothers. Shelters adjusted for children’s needs were perceived as having better quality.