“Steps are taken that homogenize women”: a critical approach to social intervention with victims of gender-based violence

Abstract

This article offers a critical approach of social interventions in the field of gender-based violence through five semi-structured interviews to social workers in the same field. We stem from the feminist criticism of punitive approaches in gender-based violence situations, which infantilize and homogenize women, and widen the scope of what it is understood for gender-based violence in the Spanish context. Along these lines, the interviewed social workers share their frustration in terms of working in a field where they lack resources – especially economical, housing and professional training resources– even though resistance strategies that connect with the community are developed. This last aspect is emphasized as a way of including intersectionality and, therefore, heterogeneity and the particularities of each situation in social approaches, leading the way towards reparation and not only punishment.