N.C. takes aggressive stance
toward battered-wife problem
By KAREN BARBER
Special to the Summer Tar Heel
Kate, 23, had been married for six years.
Things were good the first couple of years
between her and her husband, but when
money started getting tight around the house
he started acting differently. At first, he
would come in and yell at her for a-while. "
Then he started drinking and slapping her
occasionally. Eventually he started drinking
more and beating her more violently. After
two years of virtual torture by her husband, .
Kate realized she was a victim of wife abuse.
Glenda, 35, had been married for 1 5 years.
Her husband had beaten her during most of
their marriage. She put up with it, hoping
that he'd change some day. It wasn't until the
kids came along and he started beating them
.too that she realized she was a part of the
battered-wife syndrome.
Kate and Glenda (not their real names) are
like thousands of women across the United
States who are brutally abused by their
husbands. Battered wives are found at all
socio-economic levels, in all age groups and'
in all races.'
Fortunately for such women, there is a
growing awareness of the problem in this
country and others, while efforts are being
made to help them. In Orange County,
several services are available to these
women.
Social workers at the Chapel Hill
Department of Human Services offer
supportive and legal counseling to battered
women. "We help them sort out what they
want to do," said Jane Cousins, a social
worker. "This is a legal kind of issue,
involving separation and counseling. If she
needs us, we'll go to court with her and be
supportive. We're very responsive to
battered women and getting them out of
their homes to a safe place."
Cousins said another important service
available to abused women is the Orange
Durham YWCA Coalition for Battered
Women, which was organized about two
years ago. The coalition has approximately
60 members who are concerned about wife
abuse-in the area. About 40 of them have
gone through special advocacy training
sessions to offer counseling and shelter to
battered wives.
"We do a lot of crisis intervention
counseling," said Dawn Tucker, an advocate
for the coalition. One of the main things. we
do is to help these women find out what their
resources are, such as family members and
work skills.
The coalition also provides the abused
wife with information about her legal rights.
"We tell them things are crimes that they
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might not have known were crimes, like
verbal threats," said Tucker.
Ursula Sherrill, a social worker in the
Department of Medicine at North Carolina
Memorial Hospital, said the hospital
employs 50 social workers whose duties
include dealing with battered wives seeking
medical help at the hospital. "We talk to
battered, women about the fact that they're
not alone. Many feel at fault. We try to help
them to see their situation and let them know
that other women have experienced the same
kind of problem. We also try to help them
look at their alternatives and clarify how
they feel," she said- Sherrill added that
hospital social workers help make the
women aware of community resources
available to them and help them Figure out a
housing situation that could be used for
refuge.
Mental health centers in the area also offer
-v i
counseling and aid of this nature to abused
wives. Kit Munson, a counselor at the
Orange-Person-Chatham Mental Health
Center who works extensively with battered
wives, said many women don't come to her
for help as a battered wife.
"Many come in because they say their
husband has a drinking problem or because
they feel inadequate as a marriage partner,"
she said!
Tucker said many of the battered wives
she works with in the coalition tend to blame
themselves for the problem.
"If you're working with a media image of
what marriage is and yours isn't like that,
you say, 'What am I doing wrong'., she
said.
Stress was another factor Cousins cited as
causing wife abuse. Men who have a low self
image tend to beat their wives more often
too", she said.
"Another factor is the fact that violence is
accepted in our culture," Cousins said.
Tucker said she thought a lot of men have
the attitude that "you ought to keepour
woman in line." "Another problem is that
men learn physical violence is an acceptable
way to express anger," she said.
Cousins said many battered wives are
reluctant to leave their situations because of
economic reasons, fear, lack of shelter or
because they don't want to give up the
relationship.
The women finally try to get out of their
situation, said Cousins, when the husband
starts beating the children or when shelters
offering , support and refuge are made
available. "It's reassuring for a woman to
hear that her husband has no right to treat
her that way," Cousins said.
Most, pf the various counselors
interviewed who work with battered wives
agree that Orange County and the
surrounding area needs a shelter.
Tucker said she would like to see two
kinds of shelters made available.for battered
wives. "One would be a temporary refuge for
a woman leaving and re-entering the
relationship, who may eventually leave for
good. The other type of shelter would be a
refuge for women starting out ontheir own."
Munson agreed that a shelter in the local
area is needed, adding that in North
Carolina, shelters exist in Winston-Salem,
Greensboro and Lenoir.
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i - nnirrnnniiii n.rmrn.rrMMiyniii,irii Thursday. May 24. 1979 . The Summer I ar Heel 1 1