Women facing violence: the voice of social workers

Abstract

This article investigates the critical path followed by women facing violence in the city of São Leopoldo through the analysis of discursive practices of a group of workers from social institutions. An intentional selection of institutions was carried out, including the following areas: health, education, police force, law and community. Two representatives of each sector were interviewed. Based on the workers' discursive practices, we noticed that the violence that is perpetrated against women is a problem of high frequency and low institutional resolution. Throughout the Critical Path process - the way followed by women in order to break with violence - many users are not sheltered by the services and, despite the creation of a Reference Center for Women, there is still a lot to be done to enforce the public policies. The social workers' discourses were enunciated from the institutional position they occupy, and in these discourses they minimized the women's request for help, saying that they were guilty. Workers from community organizations were the most sympathetic ones. The results show that there is not a single path or an ideal itinerary; rather, the path followed by many women is long, painful and, sometimes, inefficient. Not all the paths followed by the women in São Leopoldo could be investigated; however, the fact that other services are becoming available in the city will certainly enable the design of other ways.