A feminist political geographical study on the feeling of home for
Dutch women who have experienced Intimate Partner Violence
Maartje Krijnen (10427708) MSC Thesis Political Geography Graduate School of Social Sciences
Thesis Evaluation and Supervision Supervisor
dr. Virginie Mamadouh
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam
Nieuwe Achtergracht 166 v.d.mamadouh@uva.nl
Second Reader dr. ir. Lia Karsten
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences University of Amsterdam
Nieuwe Achtergracht 166 c.j.m.karsten@uva.nl
Abstract
This master thesis analyses the perception of women who have experienced intimate partner violence while focusing on what the effects are on their feeling of home. Although academic research on gender based violence as a whole is increasing, a lack of focus on different forms of gender based violence from a geographical point of view remains. An academic gap persists between the stories of the victims and their feelings of home after they have experiences intimate partner violence. The extensive literature study that was conducted prior to the empirical data collection, showed how fear and human security are intertwined with any act of violence within the domestic space. To do justice to the severity of having to feel fearful and unsafe in their own homes, this research focusses on the realities of women for whom the feeling of home is affected due to intimate partner violence they have experienced. Starting out from a critical geopolitical and feminist geopolitical framework, this study is based on a political geographical approach that explores the experiences of the domestic space. From the seven in-depth interviews which have been collected across the Netherlands, it became clear that the feeling of home was severely affected due to the violence that had happened before. This research emphasizes that women who are victims of intimate partner violence have to deal with fear, and an adjusted feeling of home in everyday life.
Keywords: Feminist geopolitics, Human Security, Gender Based Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Fear and everyday life, Feeling of Home
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Forms of Gender Based Violence……….……15
Figure 2: Operationalization of Intimate Partner Violence………..17
Figure 3: List of respondents………19
Figure 4: Housing information……….34
Figure 5: Research-identified meanings of home……….37
Figure 6: Operationalization of key signifiers of meaning of home………...………..42
Table of Contents Abstract Table of Content Foreword 1. Introduction……….7 2. Theoretical Framework………...9
2.1 Critical Geopolitics and Feminist Geopolitics………..9
2.2 Human security………..……….11
2.3 Fear and everyday life………....…….12
2.4 Gender Based Violence………...…………14
2.5 Intimate Partner Violence………...…………16
2.6 Feeling of home………...………18
2.7 Intimate Partner Violence and the Feeling of Home……….…..21
2.8 Research questions……….…….23
3. Research Context………..24
3.1 Prior Knowledge………...24
3.2 Context of women’s shelter in the Netherlands………..25
4. Research methodology………..………27 4.1 Research strategy………..………..……28 4.2 Research design………..………28 4.3 Population………..……….30 4.4 Ethical considerations………..………..……….31 4.5 Positionality………..………..32 4.6 Limitations………..………33
5. An analysis of the feeling of home………..……….33
5.1 Life trajectories in relation to housing………35
5.2 The domestic space and the feeling of home………...………...41
5.3 Sense of belonging………..………43
6. The influence of human security and fear on domestic imagniaries………44
6.1 Soundscapes in the home………..………..45
6.2 The presence of pets in the home………...……….46
6.3 Events that lead to feelings of fear and unsafety……….48
7. The relationship between fear and human security and the feeling of home………49
8. Conclusions………..……….50
8.1 Research question and sub questions………...………...50
8.2 Discussion………..……….52
9. Reflection………..………53
10. References………..……….56
11. Appendices………..………61
Appendix A: Research tool………..……...………..61
Appendix B: Operationalization table………...…63 Appendix C: Conceptual framework
Foreword
First of all, I would like to start by thanking Virginie Mamadouh. Who is the supervisor of this master thesis. For all her time and the conversations we had about this topic, and about all the other interesting things we talked about. Even though it was often not thesis related. Thank you for taking the time to answer my endless emails, even when it was late or on a Sunday. And for somehow always making me feel more self-assured when I would walk out of your office than when I entered it. Your hard work is inspiring. Secondly I would like to thank Lia Karsten for taking the time to be the second reader for this thesis. And for her course on qualitative research, which came in quite handy during this research process.
Also, I would like to thank Suzanne Bouma, who is specialized in research on intimate partner violence. Her advice an expert point of view was extremely valuable. Talking to her while constructing the research method created important insights. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.
Especially I would like to thank the seven women that were interviewed for this thesis. They opened up their homes to me in order to share the stories about their lives in ways I could not have imagined. Their bravery is really something to look up to. Thank you for opening up to me and for all the time we spend talking.
Lastly, I would like to thank my loving mother Godelieve and my sister Frances who offered a listening ear when I needed it. Last but not least I would like to thank Robin, who survived this very stressful year of mine and who was there for support and motivational speeches anytime of the day.
After a long period of time, it is finally there. Enjoy reading!
1. Introduction
The issue that is central in this research is one that has not been on the Dutch political agenda for a very long time. Only in the late 1960s the first articles about violence towards women had made an entrance in the Dutch media. This lead to the House of the Representatives in the Netherlands to discuss what this violence towards women meant to the children that were present in the homes where the violence occurred. To this point in time, the focus of discussion was solely on the position of children in cases of violence in the domestic surroundings (Brinkgeve & van Daalen, 1991, p. 146). Only ten years later women made public that physical abuse by their partners made them victims in their own homes. This time the problem was addressed by the women themselves who were mistreated by their husbands or lovers. This form of physical violence caused a great discussion in the Netherlands, which finally lead to the question of female emancipation and sex inequality.
Despite the fact that the act of misogyny through violence in the private domain is now known for over forty years in the Dutch public debate, we can still speak of an epidemic of misogynistic behaviorism. In the Netherlands, 45% of all women in society have been victims of physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes. One in every five women have been physically abused by their partner or their ex-partner. 11% of women have experienced sexual violence by their partner or ex-partner. Every year, 3% of women have avoided their homes due to the fear of violence. In most cases the perpetrator of the violence is a man (Römkens et al., 2014).
“I do not think I will every feel a hundred percent safe ever again. I am quite sure I will never feel completely safe. Maybe the closes to feeling safe could happen when he dies. But that probably will not happen. It is selfish to wish for this because I don’t want to do this to my children. He is still their dad. But if I am truly honest, I secretly hope that he dies everyday.”
This quote is from a mother of two daughters. She has experienced intimate partner violence by the father of her children for over ten years. At the moment of the interview she lives with her two children in a house that she moved into a year prior to the interview. The quote illustrates how fear and the feeling of safety are deeply affected by the experience of violence from an (ex)-partner.
The safety net for victims of any form of domestic violence in the Netherlands grew exponentially over the last couple of years (Stichting Blijf Groep, 2017). Nevertheless, academic research on domestic violence in the Netherlands from a geographical perspective is
still scarce. By approaching the research on violence towards a certain gender from a geographical perspective, a certain sensibility to the concept space can be added to the existing academic framework. Specifically, since intimate partner violence contains all acts of violence that occurs between people who live together or have lived together and between whom a sexual bond exists or has existed. It concerns sexual, physical, economic and psychological violence against partners as well as ex-partners.
One of the most violated human rights in the world is violence against girls and women (United Nations Population Fund, 2016, in Bradbury-Jones et al., 2017, p. 1). Often the research that has been done on gender based violence does not clearly show the gender based approach that it is build on (Bradbury-Jones, 2017). When actually the research on any form of gender based violence should be more focused on a specific gender, in order to understand what a solution to this epidemic could be. Especially in political geographical analysis, research that is focused on women who have been victims of intimate partner violence is a topic that has been ignored. Pain emphasizes in her research: ‘domestic violence is absent in human geography. It is time to bring this everyday terrorism home’ (Pain, 2014, p. 544).
In April 2018 the policy plan called ‘Violence Does Not Belong Anywhere’ was presented to the House of Representatives in the Netherlands (Rijksoverheid, 2018). This 59-page document introduces the policy that focusses on the central government and the tasks for the municipalities in this matter for the coming years. What is striking is that the plan is mostly focused on violence towards elderly and children. The definition of domestic violence that is portrayed in this policy document does not do justice to the unique features and issues that are related to intimate partner violence. The underexposure of this shows the need for a deeper understanding of what women go through who experience intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence does not limit itself to the domestic space but prevails in the public space as well. To focus solely on forms of domestic violence is not sufficient enough and a simplistic representation of the realities of many women in the Netherlands.
In order to give a voice to the women who have not been included enough in the debate on policy regarding this problem, this research will bring to light their experiences of everyday life. In this research there will be looked at how women experience their homes, after they have gone through intimate partner violence. To provide insight into the domestic imaginaries of women who have experienced intimate partner violence, this thesis presents a qualitative study of the everyday life of seven women on various residential locations in the Netherlands. It investigates the influences of experiencing intimate partner violence on the
feeling they perceive inside their own homes. Feminist geographers have pointed out that the home is a fundamental site for the constitution of power relations and gender subjectivities (Blunt & Dowling, 2006). This research examines the domestic lives of women after experiencing intimate partner violence. The practices of feeling at home for women who have experienced intimate partner violence in earlier times in life remain largely unexamined. The gendered experience of the feeling of home in the private space for women post intimate partner violence needs further interrogation. In order to create a basis for future geographical research, this research will attempt to fill the gap in academic research on the feeling of home by female victims of intimate partner violence.
Since there has not been academic research on how women perceive their homes after going through intimate partner violence, this analysis is based on an exploratory approach. The purpose of this research is to answer the following research question:
How do women perceive their feeling of home after experiencing intimate partner violence? In order to analyze the contemporary domestic life of the seven women that were interviewed for this research, there will be looked at the relationship of three key concept that emerged from the literature review that was conducted prior to this research. There will be looked at how the dependent variable, which is the feeling of home that the respondents perceive, is influenced by feelings of fear and feelings of human (in)security. The aim of this research is to make an empirical contribution to the policymakers in the Netherlands in order to create a deeper understanding of the domestic realities of women who have experienced intimate partner violence.
2. Theoretical Framework
This thesis starts with a chapter that is dedicated to giving an overview of the existing theory on intimate partner violence. In order to understand how the main concepts that play a central role in this research are related to the research population, the concepts human security and
fear will both be discussed in a separate paragraph. This chapter will start by introducing the
history in political geography that lead to the growth of feminist geopolitical work. Therefore, the critical geopolitical movement will be explained in the first paragraph of this chapter. Together with the movement that resulted from the call of Dowler, Sharp (2001) and Hyndman (2001) for integrating feminist geopolitical theory into the field of geopolitical
analysis, the theories that are related to this thesis will be introduced. Thereafter the six key concepts that are relevant in the analysis of the women who are central in this study are introduced and placed within the historical changes in the political geography. In order to create an overview of the academic work that has already been published about these concepts. It is important to emphasize that these six concepts do not exist independently. Especially the concepts related to violence that occurs in contemporary domestic life should be approached as a framework of concepts and theories. Often the concepts overlap partially and sometimes simultaneously with more than one concept. Therefore, this chapter will clarify how these concepts are intertwined and how they can coexist, while explaining which definition will be used in this research. In the last paragraph of this chapter, the research question and the sub questions will be introduced.
2.1 Critical Geopolitics and Feminist Geopolitics
In order to understand why the main question in this research will be approached from a political geographical perspective, the analysis of women who are victimized by intimate partner violence, should be placed in the historical context of geopolitical thought. Therefore, firstly the critical geopolitical movement and the feminist geopolitical movement that arose from this, are introduced.
The critical geopolitics movement plays an essential role in contemporary political geography (Flint & Taylor, 2014, p. 74). This new school in geopolitical thought emerged due to the fact that several political geographers refuted the idea that those who are in power are most important to study and analyze. Since this notion was the standard in previous research in political geography, refuting the object of research was a drastic turnaround. Key thinkers in this discourse, such as O’ Tuathail and Dalby (1996), emphasize that this idea should be undermined in future research. They state that to research people within society who are underexposed in geographical research will lead to more thought provoking insights than the overrepresentation of topics and groups of people in political geographical research that had been studied previously. The critique that emerged from the critical geopolitical school is on the state-centric, white and male voice in geopolitical research. The aim of this rather new discourse is to interrogate the implicit and explicit meaning that are given to ‘the other’ in relation to space (Flint & Taylor, 2014, p. 71). Critical geopolitics will be defined as the scholarly study of the spatialities of statecraft (Ó Tuathail, 1996).
From the critical geopolitics perspective, a new critique emerged around the turn of the century that challenged this critical geopolitical point of view. This movement is called
feminist geopolitics and this research finds itself within this school of thought. This school
pointed out that the critical geopolitical work had focused solely on cases that were analyzed on the scale of the state. Geographers were previously focusing on research arenas that were dominated by men and therefore they were neglecting analyzing the lives of women (Couper, 2015, p. 118). Feminism in geography began with studying gender relations and roles, the patriarchy in society and the ways how these social structures interact with place and space (Couper, 2015, p. 119).
The feminist movement in geographical thought advocates how spheres and scales intersect by using a gender-conscious and embodied perspective (Enloe, 1993; Dowler & Sharp, 2001). The main point in feminist geopolitics is that the world-systems approach in geographical studies must be replaced by a focus on society that occurs in everyday life. The focus should be on intimate geopolitics (Flint & Taylor, 2019, p. 83). This means that the topics that are studied should be approached on a much smaller scale than a state-level scale of analysis. Most of critical geopolitical research is still focused on the national scale and therewithal it is criticized for not doing something about what the school of thought is actually criticizing.
Feminist geographers emphasize that academics should not be separated from activism and this should be processed in research by giving a voice to marginalized groups by studying these groups. In order to do this, the geographical perspective plays an important role. While keeping in mind that feminist geographies, like feminism, is not ‘only’ about women. But that it is about the way in which gender is constituted and how this relates to the constitution of the environment (Mackenzie, 1999, p. 419). A key contribution of adding feminist approaches to geopolitical thought is not merely to add gender to the research but to change the agenda in political geography (Kodras, 1999). To put an emphasize on the fact that the political is personal. Enloe (1989) shows this in her research by studying the gendered roles in elite masculinist political power. Her research is on international politics and the gendered relations such as the diplomatic spouse, or the sexual relations between the local population and powerful military forces (Enloe, 1989). The work of Enloe shows how political power is intertwined with gendered relations.
A good example of the bridge between the geographical perspective and the feminist approach can be found in the research by Hyndman (2004). She executes a research that focuses on the gap between political geography and feminist geography by explaining that the goal of the feminist geographical perspective is to incorporate racialized and gendered topics.
field of political geography, by not addressing the influences of marginalization that are present in every society. Security is a term that is widely approached as being related to the territory of the state (Dalby, 1992). The concept security is an important point of focus in this research, in the next paragraph security will be discussed extensively. It is a popular word in geopolitical grammar when justifying why a certain place, or a certain group of citizens should be protected by implementing a certain policy (Ó Tuathail, 2002). The word security implies that the ‘other’ group or phenomena is trying to attack the safe environment. It implies that there is a power which the group has to be protected from in order to maintain, or create, a safe space.
Security is provided by the operation of state-power but this notion changed rapidly when in the 90s it became apparent that the political community can not be secured on the boundaries of the territory of the state (Dalby, 1992, p. 505). Due to this realization, the concept of security was disrupted from a global perspective to a scale that should be analyzed on even the smallest localities. Security is one of the key concepts in this research. In the next paragraph the concept human security will be connected to women who have experienced intimate partner violence.
2.2 Human security
Due to the switch in the scale of analysis in feminist geopolitical thought, the concept security was approached from a new point of view. After all it was proposed that all studies should be reanalyzed from a national scale to a smaller scale. Due to the change of focus from national security to human security, marginalized groups in society became a new topic of research. Because concepts such as violence and security are experienced on an individual level in society, the national approach towards the concept security is insufficient and therefore undesirable (Massaro, Williams, 2013, p. 570). A renewed point of view on geopolitical structures lead to new insights with regard to access to education, health care, food and water. In particular, a new focus on violence related to sexism and racism was created within political geographical thought (Flint & Taylor, 2018, p. 84). Because concepts such as violence and security are experienced on an individual level in society, the national approach towards the concept security is insufficient and therefore undesirable (Massaro, Williams, 2013, p. 570).
Any act of violence towards women is a concern related to human security since all women are constantly in danger of physical harm. This thread is always present. This gendered human insecurity will be acknowledged in this research as a structural violence that
is related to entrenched social inequities and inequalities, as well as the need to recognize the multidimensional, multilevel construction of conditions that create insecurities (MacLean & O’Manique, 2010, p. 495). The broader definition of human security that is exists in political geographical thought is firstly ‘freedom from want’ (economic safety related to wellbeing), secondly as ‘freedom from fear’ (personal and individual safety) and lastly the freedom of not being discriminated or excluded (MacLean, 2008; Flint & Taylor, 2011). In this definition it becomes clear that states can not provide in these three premises but that they are held accountable for security. Since it places humans as the predominantly security referent instead of the nation-state.
The human security perspective provides the possibility of a deeper understanding of the gendered violence that is central in this research. This research explores what it does to women for whom human security is not guaranteed. The research population that is central in this research has experienced violence that is based on gendered discrimination, which is harmful to the individual safety of the victims, while endangering their wellbeing. Women who have experienced violence by their partner or their ex-partner endure a form of human insecurity. Not only because of the notions of physical safety but also the violence that comes from economic, social and political conditions that are associated with any act of gendered violence (O’Manique & MacLean, 2010).
2.3 Fear and everyday life
One of the concepts that is directly connected to experiencing violence is fear. Cuomo (2013) argues that fear relates to security interventions of women who have experienced intimate partner violence due to the masculine approach of the intervention. Cuomo argues that a common intervention that follows intimate partner violence is based on the idea of ‘saving the woman’ that is in danger of their partner or ex-partner. This intervention draws attention to the masculinity of the approach due to the relationship of the protector as being the savior, in contrast to the victim who is the woman that needs to be saved. Cuomo adds that this is in a sense a patriarchal protection structure (Cuomo, 2013, p. 857). In her research she shows how the practice of masculinist security can result in a feeling of insecurity and an increased feeling of fear (Cuomo, 2013). Following Young in this research the protection of the women who have been victims of intimate partner violence are put in a bargain because they have to accept a subordinate status in exchange for protection from the violence (Young, 2003). Because the intervention that is related to intimate partner violence can lead to an increased
insight. Therefore, the feeling of fear in everyday life post intimate partner violence is a key element in this analysis.
Not only is fear a concept that will be studied in relation to the violence that the women in this study have experienced, fear is also related to the feeling of home (Pain, 2018). The research by Pain shows how local security practices are intertwined with global security interventions and discourses. A strong believe that global fear has a direct influence on a local scale has been adopted for a long time (Pain, 2014). The geopolitics of fear are connected to national fear, local fear as well as domestic fear. These fears are in relation to each other and should not be approached in a hierarchical manner. The concept fear occurs on smaller scales that the nation-state and therefore the geography of fear is much wider in scope than it is previously studied (Pain & Smith, 2008, p. 16). Pain and Smith (2008) argue that geopolitical interventions are a result of emotional geographies of everyday life. They emphasize that fear is not a hierarchical understanding and emotional geopolitics are caused on small, individual scales in everyday life.
Whilst creating a deeper understanding of the research on the geopolitics of fear it is next to impossible to not mention the turning point in globalized fear. The attacks on the United States of 11 September 2001 influenced the geopolitics of fear greatly. This moment shows how fear can create a discourse were sense of belonging is created for western countries in contrast to non-western countries. Here a direct link can be made to the concept security since the consequence of fear involves similar processes of social in- and exclusion. Fear revolves around the principle that there is an existence of the ‘other’ which one should be fearful of. It implies that the ‘other’ could aim on hurting you. In a sense this fear is produced through national or global actions and political events that lead to feelings of fear in everyday life.
With naming fear comes an additional assumption about who should be feared, and who is the one to experience fear (Smith & Pain, 2008). Fear is often approached in academic research as an urban problem that occurs in streets, parks and city centers, rather than in private spaces (Buchanan, 2013). Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more research on what the effects are of fear that is experienced in the domestic spheres.
The research on the geopolitics of fear can be placed within the feminist geographical viewpoint since it shows how global discourse can have an impact on local emotions and fear for the other. Smith and Pain argue that it is time to shift the emphasis from authoritative and top-down models of fear to a more nuanced and grounded approach (Smith & Pain, 2008, p. 13).
Fear is a complex and contested concept in a sense that there is no academic consensus on fear (Pain, 2014). In this research fear will be defined as an emotional response to a material threat that can have physical or psychological harm on individuals or on the people and things they hold dear (Smith & Pain, 2008, p. 9). It is a rational emotion which is appropriate in the context of the perceived danger (Sclater et al., 2009, p.12). The concept fear is directly related to space since it is often connected to certain places where a threat occurs (Smith & Pain, 2008). Especially for intimate partner violence, which is the central topic in this research. Since intimate partner violence often occurs in the domestic spheres, it results to some degree in a spatial entrapment for victims in their own homes (Pain, 2014a, p. 128). Pain describes this entrapment as everyday terrorism (Pain, 2014b). In her work she argues why a direct link can be made between terrorism and any act of violence inside the home. One of the most important components of terrorism is fear, and this is corresponding with the daily fear that people experience who are victims of violence that occurs in the home (Pain, 2014). She argues that intimate partner violence should therefore be approached as everyday
terrorism. Since it is far more common than global terrorism and more damaging to human
life (Pain, 2014, p. 544).
2.4 Gender Based Violence
Geographers have increasingly focused on the spatial component of the implications of violence over the past years. Geographers challenge that our views on violence are necessarily spatial (Springer & Le Billon, 2016, p. 1). There is an increased sensitivity on the multidimensional forms that violence is related to geographical scales. Violence shapes space, and moreover violence in different spaces, both public and private, is gendered (Mehta, 2010). Because of the complexity of the concept violence, it is necessary to address the different forms of violence in this section. Subsequently, the key concept in this research; intimate partner violence, will be placed within this theoretical framework.
As stated before, violence is often related to gender because gender dynamics create vulnerability. All forms of violence that are in a sense a consequence of someone’s gender can be classified as Gender Based Violence (hereafter GBV). GBV is the overarching concept of all types of violence that are rooted as an act of oppressing or harming the other sex. This violence can be physically, verbally, emotionally, psychologically or sexually. The definition by the UN from 1995 in the Beijing declaration, in which GBV was included, is still based on a cis and binary division of gender. It is important to note that GBV can be relatable to men,
that the male-female heteronormative should not be considered the norm. People are victims of GBV when another person is treating them unequally based on their gender. That being said, it should be pointed out that the majority of people who are victims of GBV is female (Council of Europe, 2011).
Throughout the world, one in three women experiences, or has experienced sexual of physical violence in her lifetime (Devries, et al., 2013; Abrahams et al., 2014). In addition to this, GBV for women is associated to various negative outcomes in relation to women’s health (Campbell, 2002). Such as adverse pregnancy, excessive exposure to HIV, psychological disorders such as depression, suicide and anxiety (DeVries et al., 2013). In addition to this, GBV decreases the chances of women being able to make decisions about their mental and physical health, and it decreases the chances of being able to work and earn a living (Werwie et al., 2019, p.1).
The forms of GBV are diverse and know six different classifications in which the violence can occur in (see figure 1).
Figure 1:
Forms of Gender Based Violence
Intimate partner violence and stalking
Sexual violence: rape, sexual assault and harassment
Trafficking, slavery and sexual exploitation
Early and forced marriage, forced sterilization, forced abortion, female genital mutilation/cutting, and crimes committed in the name of so-called honor
Emerging forms of violations such as online harassment, sexual abuse facilitated through the use of information and communication technologies and cyberbullying
Source: (Bradbury-Jones, 2017, p. 2).
The research that is done on GBV in Europe as a whole is still very little. There are several reasons for this. First of all, a lot of the violence against women stays unreported (Bradbury-Jones, 2017). Therefore, it is unclear to what extend this problem prevails. Secondly, the different forms of GBV are not prosecutable in all nation-states of the European Union since it is not a crime there (European Commission, 2016).
The research by Kelmendi (2015) on women in Kosovo, shows that it is important to understand, and keep in mind constantly, that the status and position of women differs severely per nation-state. Gendered inequalities are based on socio-economic characteristics and these vary immensely between for example Kosovo and the situation for women and girls in Dutch society. Therefore, the literature that is conducted in non-Dutch nation-states that is read for this literature review, has to be critically looked at. The differences between societies
and the gender roles that prevail in different nation-states need to emphasized. Nevertheless, it is possible to base the theoretical framework of this research on previous research from other societies since it can help to build a deeper understanding of GBV.
Another example of the critical point of view is the research by Salazar and Öhman (2015). This research exposes a discourse in Nicaragua through interviews with young Nicaraguan men. In this culture it is experienced as normal and justifiable to perform violence on women. Simply because it is not acknowledged by this group of respondents that gender inequality is something to fight against (Salazar & Öhman, 2015). The research by Schneider et al. (2015) show the delinquent’s perspective from a different point of view. This research describes the fear of Congolese ex-soldiers for their commanders and the punishment they would get (such as drug use) if they would refuse ordered rape (Schneider et al., 2015). It is important to be aware of the cultural differences on how violence against women is perceived.
2.5 Intimate Partner Violence
Intimate Partner Violence (hereafter IPV) is one of the branches of the transcending GBV
concept that includes all forms of violence that can occur based on one’s gender role. In the political debate the terms IPV and domestic violence sometimes are used to express the same thing. The difference between these terms is that domestic violence contains all acts of violence that occur only in the domestic area. This means that violence towards children or elderly can all be classified as domestic violence as well. Domestic violence is the overarching concept of all types of violence that occur inside the house.
The concept IPV is defined as single or recurrent episodes of any threat or act of mental, physical and sexual types of abuse from a previous or current intimate partner (Rodriguez et al., 2009, p. 359; Black et al., 2011; Willie & Kershaw, 2019). In a sense the most important difference between IPV and all gender based violence is that the violence occurs by an intimate partner, which means that the relationship between the victim and the violent (ex-)partner is of a romantic kind.
In the Netherlands the estimation of IPV vary. Römkens, who is specialized in her research on gender based violence measured a prevalence rate of 35% of IPV in Dutch society (Römkens, 1992). When Wittebrood and Veldheer estimated the rate at 12% (2005) while checking on a differences between ethnic backgrounds. Their conclusion was that no different outcomes of percentages of people who are victimized by IPV per ethnic background occurred in the Netherlands (Wittebrood & Veldheer, 2005).
The research by Pels et al. (2015) shows through a qualitative research were 100 women with an ethnically diverse background are interviewed, how the negative impact of IPV is experienced in relation to their parenting. The reason that Pels et al. give to do research on the experience of IPV on mothers based on their ethnic background, is because they may differ from the majority population with regard to the meaning that they attach to violence as well as what their coping strategies are (Pels et al, 2015, p. 1057). While in earlier research no variance was found according to ethnic background (Wittebrood & Veldheer, 2005). An interesting outcome from the research by Pels et al. (2015) is that the women in this qualitative research experience that they feel trapped between the institutional demands to keep their children safe and the requirement to allow the children contact with their fathers (Pels et al., 2015, p. 1063). Sokoloff and Dupont (2005) show in their research how an intersectional approach of domestic violence creates a deeper understanding of the literature on domestic violence by creating a comprehensive review of the intersectionality between ethnicity, class and gender.
Figure 2: Operationalization of Intimate Partner Violence
Source: (Willie & Kerhaw, 2019)
2.6 Feeling of home
The discussion about the differences in the analysis of scale within political geographical thought, was the reason that the the feminist geopolitical point of view arose. Within the academic discussion about the concept home and the sense of belonging, a similar shift in analysis grew. Rather than to approach the home as a private domain, the home is shaped by power and influences from the public world of politics. As a domestic scale it is bound and
connected by imperialistic and national politics that are shaped through imaginative geographies (Blunt & Dowleyy, 2006, p. 142). Both national and international structures influence the home and therefore the home is a space of both power and resistance (Blunt & Dowley, 2006). Smith shows in her work how refiguring of geopolitical thought is gendered and how the national geopolitical discourse influences smaller scales and spaces (Smith, 2001). From a feminist perspective, she calls for a gendering of geopolitical discursive practices and the analysis of what these implications mean for the identities of these gendered subjects (Smith, 2001, p. 230). In a sense she states that the attention on gender has to be central in geopolitical research: the political is the personal.
Due to the feminist geopolitical shift in geographical thought – that is described in paragraph 2.1 - a focus on the domestic space as a subject of research grew. The reason for this is because the household and domestic relations are critically gendered, due to domestic labor and caring (Blunt & Dowley, 2006, p. 15).
On the national political level, a focus on the homeland and the sentiment of belonging to the home and the national identity of the home is actively portrayed. It is not surprising that terms like ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ are burning issues in the political debate, considering the globalizing structures and the age of migration we are in (Duyvendak, 2013, p. 16). For the reason that contemporary globalization created a shrinking attachment to the place that is home. As a result of the possibility, for certain people, to move to a different place and settle there.
Low (2008) has shown in her research that the term ‘homeland’, that is often used in international politics, plays an important role in the local fears on a much smaller scale than the political scale of the nation-state that it is used at. She shows in her research that due to the fact that the term homeland relates to the private homes, people start to develop a fear for ‘the other’ that wants to penetrate the safe space of their home. In a sense it results into a fear of outsiders (Low, 2008).
In recent years in the Netherlands populism grew. This development lead to the fact that some politicians urge the Dutch society to feel pride for their ‘national home’
(Duyvendak, 2013, p. 23).
The home can evoke a sense of belonging but at the same a sense of alienation (Blunt & Dowley, 2006). It is a space for intimacy and violence and both fear and desire (Blunt & Varley, 2004, p. 3). It is a place where different meanings to the domestic space are allocated and different emotions are felt for different residents.
Duyvendak states that the home is both the emotion of a ‘haven’ that are related to a place that is familiar and comfortable, and the ‘heaven’ emotions of the home where it is possible to be yourself without adjusting to the social rules that are in public spaces (Duyvendak, 2009). This is in line with the work of Somerville (1992) and Mallet (2004). Somerville states that both terms ‘the home’ and ‘homelessness’ are ideological constructs that consist both of logic component as well as the emotional component. Earlier work of academics that constructed what the meanings of home are for home-owners is shown in figure 3.
Figure 3: Research-identified meanings of home
Depres (1991) Somerville (1992) Mallet (2004) Duyvendak
(2009)
Material structure Shelter House
Permanence, continuity
Hearth Ideal
Security and control Heart Familiarity
Refuge Paradise/Haven Haven Haven/Heaven
Status Abode
Family, friends Privacy Comfort
Reflection of self Expression of symbol
of self
Centre of activities Roots Being-in-the-world Being yourself Place to own
Source: (Blunt & Dowling, 2006). Somerville constructed an operationalization scheme focusing on key signifiers, which is visible in figure 4 on the next page.
Figure 4: operationalization of key signifiers of meaning of home Key signifier General
connotation
Sense of security
In relation to:
Self Others
‘Shelter’ Materiality Physical Protection Roofing
‘Hearth’ Warmth Physiological Relaxation Homeliness
‘Heart’ Love Emotional Happiness Stability
‘Privacy’ Control Territorial Possession Exclusion
‘Roots’ Source of
identity
Ontological Sense Reference
‘Abode’ Place Spatial Rest Living/sleeping
space
‘Paradise’ Ideality Spiritual Bliss Non-existence
Source: (Somerville, 1992, p. 533). Duyvendak states that the home is changing drastically. He states that this is partly rooted in the emancipation of women as homemakers. He points out that the US has become successful due to the deeply gendered roles that made it possible for the men to be rootless and be at work while women took care of the home. A crucial change to understand why the conception of the home is in crisis is because the home is changing rapidly (Duyvendak, 2013).
The meaning of home is one that is in a sense symbolic. Often it is described with words such as ‘haven’, ‘safe’ or ‘secure’ (Duyvendak, 2013, p. 38; Mallet, 2004, p. 70). Because it represents an experience that is emotional. It is the place where you can be yourself, where you feel safe, where your belongings are and often where your family lives (Mallet, 2004). But the meaning of home also has a physical component because it is connected to a place, neighborhood or house that one considers to be their home. Duyvendak points out that since the feeling of home is something that most people can relate with, an academic debate in social sciences about the feeling that people experience at home is absent. He states that this can be explained due to the fact that everybody can partake in this debate and everyone initially agrees with what the feeling at home means (Duyvendak, 2013, p. 27). There is no academic consensus of what the concept home means (Mallet, 2004). Therefore, a deeper sociological understanding of what the feeling of home contains for different groups in society is needed.
In this research the following definition of home by Saunders and Williams, used as well by Giddens, will be adopted: the home is the physical setting in which the basic forms of social relationships and social institutions are produced (Saunders & Williams, 1988; Saunders, 1989; Giddens, 1984). Thus, the home is a social-spatial system that brings together a physical unit such as a house, with the social unit of a household (Mallet, 2004). According to Duyvendak, an important dimension to feeling at home is familiarity and knowing the place (Duyvendak, 2013, p. 38). Walters states that the home is a safe and reassuring place with trust and familiarity, where intimacy prevails together with unity and togetherness (Walters, 2004, p. 241).
A concept that is intertwined with the feeling of home is the sense of belonging that underlies the social structure of what people identify with. Feeling at home is connected to the feeling of identification with the surroundings around that home (Duyvednak, 2009). It is a physical attachment to the neighborhood. But it can also be the attachment to the people that are living in the neighborhood. These types of attachments can exist solely; one can feel like they belong to the people in the neighborhood but can feel alienated from the physical attachment of the neighborhood. In 2002 a large research in the Netherlands analyzed the level of attachment to the neighborhood (both physical and social dimensions) and it showed that a quarter of the Dutch society does not feel attached to their neighborhood. An amount of 18% of people in the Netherlands feel attached to their neighbors and 21% only feels attached to the physical space of the neighborhood (Duyvendak, 2009). Duyvendak shows in his research that the decrease of a sense of belonging in neighborhoods in the Netherlands is reinforced when people are forced to move out.
Belonging is an inherently geographical concept. Belonging can be related to formal structures such as citizenship or a civic belonging. On the merits of belongings are processes of in- and exclusion. In a sense you can either belong to the entity or you can be excluded from it. Blunt and Dowling (2006) emphasize that active homemaking is related to transnationalism. The sense of belonging leads to an understanding of home that is can be on different scales at the same time. Someone can perceive a sense of belonging that is related to the place where one lives, but this feeling can also be transcending that particular place. This leads to a sense of belonging in relation to multiple places.
2.7 Intimate partner violence and the feeling of home
The home is the place par excellence where gender domination takes place due to different gender roles that prevail there (Mallett, 2004). Paragraph 2.5 has shown how intimate partner
violence is a result of gender domination. The home is directly related to this because often contact between an intimate partner or an ex-partner occurs in the domestic spheres. When someone becomes a victim of IPV inside their own homes, their perception of the home could be affected. This research will focus on this perception and how the home as a social spatial system is experienced by victims of IPV.
Women who have experienced IPV often leave their homes. By changing the place where their feeling of home is, women bring themselves, and often their children, to a safer place. The perception of the home as a safe haven is criticized due to the fact that this idea is an idealized, nostalgic and romanticized notion. As a result of domestic violence and sexual abuse occurs in the home environment as well (Goldsack, 1999; Wright, 1993).
When women who are victims of intimate partner violence flee their former homes, they do not flee to family or friends, since this is a predictable move and they can be found easily there. Therefore, they create new routes through which they travel towards a safe place (Bowstead, 2011). Through this way space serves as a resource for women who are bringing themselves to safety. This is what Deleuze and Guattari call rhizome which can be described as an open network that creates unpredictable and new connections in contrast to predictable routes (Deleuze & Guattari, 1988).
Bowstead shows in her research how women use the concept space as a way or tool of bringing themselves (and often their children) to safety by leaving their home. Bowstead argues that the home is a private space where the violence occurred, and in order to bring themselves to safety, the women flee to the public space where they can be helped by others. By leaving the place where the violence had happened and by relocating to a place where they can access support services, they change their homes in order to create a safe haven again (Bowstead, 2011, p. 10; Warrington, 2019).
Erez and Ibarra state that women who have experienced any form of violence in the home will have a changed perception of their feeling of home than prior to the violence (Erez & Ibarra, 2007). Post intimidate partner violence women will perceive the home as a space that is dominated by power relations instead of a free space. Here a direct link can be made to the work of Rachel Pain (2014) who constructed the concept everyday terrorism, describing the constant terror that victims of violence inside the home go through. Often the home is perceived as the place where victims are (or were) constantly controlled and being watched (Erez & Ibarra, 2007, p. 105). The result of this is that at times victims do not experience their home as a safe space again. The person responsible for the violence often can still move in the
to feel like they can be confronted with the past in their direct environment (Erez & Ibarra, 2007).
A consequence of intimate partner violence for women is that they can get socially isolated. This can lead to their social network to be affected but it also changes the way that women think they have to interact with the outside world. Warrington shows that women can get used to the social isolation and therefore do not realize that their isolation is not a desirable situation to live in. Warrington states that for women with a migration background this is a bigger problem. In addition to this another reason why women isolate themselves after experiencing IPV is that they feel ashamed about what happened to them and therefore avoid contact (Warrington, 2001, p. 372). When prior research stressed the importance of contacts within a social support network who help women who were victims of intimate partner violence. Ford shows the importance of empowering women through a support network after abusive relationships (Ford, 1991).
2.8 Research questions
To gain a greater understanding of what the influence is for women who have experienced intimate partner violence on their feeling of home, this research is centered around the following research question:
How do women perceive their feeling of home after experiencing intimate partner violence?
This research question is disaggregated into the following three sub questions:
In what ways is the perception of the domestic space affected for these women?
How do women experience fear and human security in their homes?
To what extent are feelings of fear and human security related to the perceived feeling of home?
The results of the empirical study in relation to the theoretical framework that has been constructed in this chapter, are presented in chapter six, seven and eight. In these three chapters the sub questions in this research are central. Chapter five will elaborate on the experiences that the respondents have focusing on the domestic space. In chapter six the experienced in regard to feelings of fear and human security are central at the moment that the in-depth interviews were conducted. In chapter seven there will be analyzed what the relationship is between feelings of fear and human security on the perceived feeling of home.
Finally, chapter eight presents the conclusions of this research together with the answers to the sub questions. This chapter will end with recommendations for scholars who are aiming on studying or understanding the feeling of home for women who are victims of intimate partner violence. In addition to this, careful recommendations will be made for policymakers on different scales, who aim to enhance the wellbeing and feeling of home of this specific group in society.
3. Research Context
This chapter introduces the background information regarding the policy that is constructed in order to help women who have been confronted with intimate partner violence in their life. The first paragraph will start with elaborating why it is necessary to reflect on the prior knowledge that was gained before starting with this thesis. The section that follows will introduce the current practices and policies in the Netherlands that are created in order to guarantee a social safety net. The chapter will finish with a description of the intervention for women who are in need of housing after they have experienced intimate partner violence.
3.1 Prior knowledge
Through my work for an academic knowledge institute in the Netherlands that focusses entirely on the emancipation and the history of women, knowledge regarding the specific research population that is central in this analysis was already present. For about a year and a half I have been working as an interviewer for a longitudinal research on a new intervention method for women who have experienced intimate partner violence. The job as an interviewer consists of having four conversations with the same women in order to see whether a new intervention method is successful. Through this work, I gained a lot of knowledge about this population and about what victims of intimate partner violence go through.
Prior to the work for this academic knowledge institute, I completed an interviewing technique course that focused specifically on women who have experienced intimate partner violence. The training consisted of two parts. The first part of the training focused specifically on practical issues such as what to wear during an interview and other practical lessons. An example is the importance of being on time for an interview. Especially for this population this is crucial since often they have to arrange a sitter to take care of the children. Also, it was stressed that it often occurs that children are in the same room where the interview takes place. It is important to always look for a way that the children do not listen to what is discussed in the interview. Ideally the interview is conducted with only the respondent and the
interviewer present.
It is important to think carefully of your own representation as an interviewer. Women who have experienced intimate partner violence have a higher risk of being economic deprived (Kalifeh et al., 2013). Therefore, it is important to dress soberly, to not wear jewelry or put on a lot of visible make-up or wear expensive clothes. In order to create an open and trustworthy atmosphere and to be approachable as an interviewer. In addition to this, it is important to be aware of the fact that women can have negative experiences with picking up their phone when an unknown telephone number calls them. That is why it is important to approach these women through email and not to call them all of a sudden. All of these practical things are very important to keep in mind constantly. To reflect on your own appearance as a researcher and to analyze what is the best way to approach these women is very important in this research. Due to the fact that these women are in vulnerable positions when you reach out to them and your presence should not be more harmful in any way. All precautionary measures should be taken in order to achieve this.
In order to exclude any misunderstanding about the research population, it needs to be stressed that the women who are interviewed for the research by the academic research institute are not the same women that were interviewed for this research. Before starting this thesis, I never had contact with the seven women that are central in this research.
3.2 Context of women’s shelter in the Netherlands
As mentioned before, in April 2018 a new policy plan was presented by the national government in collaboration with the municipalities. What is interesting is that prior to these new policy plans, the safety net that is created for both women, man and trans people who are victims of intimate partner violence is decentralized. This implies that the 23 different central municipalities have full responsibility for creating a solution when somebody is in need of help due to an unsafe domestic environment. As a result of this, the intervention method is different when you have experienced intimate partner violence in a larger city in the Netherlands than when you are living on a farm next to a small village. For the simple reason that the policy is dependable on the politics of the municipality.
The new policy plan is to create a new approach that is based on three main goals. The first goal is to bring to light situations of domestic violence and child abuse in a sooner stadium. The second goal is to look for a sustainable solution in order to stop the violence. In relation to this, the punishment on violence will be set higher. In order to create a deterrent effect for other perpetrators of violence. The third goal is to focus on specified groups in
society that are in need of more attention. In the policy plan the following groups are mentioned: victims of loverboys, victims of sexual violence, victims of violence towards elderly and victims of child abuse. It is remarkable that in the presentation of the policy plan for finding a solution towards domestic violence, the biggest group of victims is overlooked. Especially since in the Netherlands, 60 to 65% of all victim and perpetrator data converged, are related to (ex-)partner violence (Van der Veen & Bogaerts, 2010).
In order to create a safe space for women who were no longer safe in their own homes, from 1974 onwards special houses were created in the Netherlands which were called Blijf-van-mijn-lijfhuizen (‘Stay-off-my-body-houses’). In 1974 the first one opened in Amsterdam and in 2004 the first Blijfhuis was opened that is especially for men. There are different houses where people can go to in order to leave the domestic space immediately where the violence occurred. The organization that is called Blijfgroep – who opened the first safe house in Amsterdam – is not the only organization in the Netherlands. For example, in Maastricht the organization Xonar is the biggest place where women can go to in order to get assistance or shelter. In Rotterdam the organization Rosa Manus provides shelter and assistance to women. In addition to this, the organization Movira provides shelter on several locations in the south of the Netherlands. There are many different smaller organizations on a local scale within municipalities, but the organization Blijfgroep is the biggest organization with most shelters throughout the Netherlands.
Last January 2019 it was adopted in the law that all professionals who have the feeling that somebody is a victim of domestic violence are required to make a report. This law is called the report code. When women feel like they want to take the first step into bringing themselves, and often their children to safety, the first step is to get into contact with the national organization Veilig Thuis. This organization is the national network that is in contact with the 26 regional organizations who provide help for victims of domestic violence. When people suddenly have to be brought to safety, the organization Veilig Thuis organizes the first steps and will check availability for shelters throughout the Netherlands. There are a couple of options that can be provided. First of all, there are several ‘safe houses’ in the Netherlands where people can be accommodated if they are in severe danger. The addresses of these safe houses are secret. Another option is that people will be offered a place in houses where they can be accommodated quickly and where they can live for a while with people who are in similar situations, until another solution is created. The Blijfgroep chose to make the addresses of these houses visible on the internet. The reason for this is because through this
actively participate in the neighborhood. It is not always necessary for people to be accommodated in a house that is provided by Veilig Thuis, sometimes the intervention method consists only of counseling which can be arranged while living at home.
4. Research methodology
4.1 Research strategy
This research is approached from a qualitative research strategy. Based upon the literature study the concepts that are central in this research are selected. The key concepts serve as a framework to comprehensively study the realities of women who have been victims of intimate partner violence. The goal of this research is to give a voice to the women who have gone through the process of sometimes leaving their homes due to feelings of unsafety. Along with analyzing what the consequences are of experiencing intimate partner violence on their feelings of home.
Victims of intimate partner violence are forced to reconstruct their lives, not only the emotional, (often) financial and relational part of their lives but also their feeling of being at home. An important part of recovering is to create a safe heaven again where people feel like they are secure, but also where they can start over again and begin a new chapter in their life. Often this applies also for the children who are often present in the situation.
It is important to note that the women who have been part of this research did not all had to leave the homes where the violence had happened. It is common to move out of the house after experiencing violence, but this is not the case for all people.
It is important to approach a sensitive topic as intimate partner violence with a qualitative research strategy. The victims that have had to deal with horrific circumstances in their past should not be approached any differently than through face to face conversations. Only through this way it is possible to understand how the respondent gives meaning to their experiences. After all the respondents have to perceive the freedom during the in-depth interviews to think about their realities and the struggles that they go through in relation to their feeling of home. Since the research is about the experiences and the imaginaries of the people who have been victimized by intimate partner violence, it is inevitable to choose for an analysis that is based on a qualitative research method. It is important to emphasize that only through a qualitative research methodology it is possible to let the respondent feel free in what stories about the past they want to share, and what they would like to keep to themselves. Through this way it is possible to do no harm by talking about past events, since
the respondent can address the stories they want to speak about. In addition to this, in qualitative research it is possible to ask the question how x plays a role in causing y and to analyze what the process is that connects x to y (Maxwell, 2013, p. 52).
The research tool that will be used in this research is a semi-structured interview scheme (see appendix A). Through this approach of doing an in-depth interview, it is possible to differ from predetermined questions that are on the interview scheme (Bryman, 2012, p. 716). Since the goal of this research is to bring to light the experiences of individuals who have been victims of intimate partner violence, it is important to leave room during the in-depth interviews and to let the conversation flow. Also, it is premeditated that not all questions in the semi-structured interview scheme have to be addressed. The scheme is constructed in order to keep the conversation flowing when it does not naturally do so. To be sure that there will be no long silences during the interview. Only through this way it is truly possible to reproduce and interpret their story and experiences of everyday life. To stimulate a respondent to share more experiences or to go deeper into topics that are relevant for the data collection, the semi-structured interview is the best fit. Through this way it is possible to add questions or to choose to leave out questions that do not relate to the situation of the respondent (Bryman, 2012).
It is important to note that the interview scheme has been adjusted after every interview. This research has been conducted through an iterative process and therefore the interview scheme should be adjusted along the way. Through conducting qualitative research, and the continuous feedback to the theory that comes up during the data collection, an inductive way of researching occurs. This iterative process can lead to new theoretical insights (Bryman, 2012). It is important to recognize that all decisions that were made during the research process are intertwined and have had an effect on other steps in the research process. These steps were considered continuously throughout the research process.
4.2 Research design
This research uses an exploratory research design. There has not been academic research in the Netherlands that focusses entirely on women who have been victims of intimate partner violence and how this has influenced their feelings of home. It is important to analyze what the consequences are for their feelings of home, without generalizing these findings for a wider population. Because of the lack of research from a geographical perspective on the influence of intimate partner violence on feelings of home, this research will lay the groundwork for future geographical research. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the
exploratory approach in this research since little to no academic knowledge on this topic exists.
This research can be placed within the human geography since it focusses mainly on the feelings and perceptions in regard to the place and space of the home. The main goal of this analysis is to try to understand the relation of a specific group within society and their perception of a certain place. This research shows how the respondents shape the human geography of their surroundings actively. From this human geographical point of view, the complex realities of the respondents and their perception of the space they call ‘home’ are constructed. It is a first step into analyzing if there should be structurally more attention towards the relationship between intimate partner violence and the feeling of home.
Within the human geography the interviewing method continuous to be the predominant research strategy. Interviews deepen the understanding of people’s relations to and, shaping of, place (Dowling et al., 2016, p. 680). Qualitative research through the interview is enriched through the interrogation of representation in constructing knowledge. It has an expanded emphasis on the socio-materiality of human life (Dowling et al., 2016, p. 684). All in-depth interviews were recorded on the laptop that simultaneously showed the semi-structured interview scheme while the conversation took place. All interviews have been transcribed and coded by using the research software program ATLAS.ti.
After conducting the in-depth interviews with the respondents, it became clear that a lot of information was collected that was focusing on the life trajectories. Because of the importance of maintaining the anonymity of the women that were interviewed in this research, it was decided that this information will not be analyzed in this research. In addition to this, the interviews generated a lot of information about the present homes that the respondents were living in at the moment that the interviews took place. Often they would live there with their children. During the interviews a lot of examples were given while walking through the house, of what places they would experience a feeling of safety or where in the house they would feel like they did not have privacy. First, the plan was to draw maps of the houses of the women in order to show how different places in the domestic area would influence their experiences. But this would also bring to light too much sensitive information about the houses where the women that were interviewed are living. Therefore, it was decided to draw a map of a standard house with two floors, since all women expressed that they had at least two floors. In this map all the places where specific feelings and experiences were described, are shown. Due to the fact that the data is presented in the same map, it is possible to compare feelings that women had in relation to the domestic space. Because all experiences
