What barriers do battered women face when they attempt to move from welfare to work?
All women moving from welfare to work face a number of barriers to self sufficiency. Some of these barriers include the lack of quality childcare, affordable housing, and adequate job training or experience. Battered women face additional barriers caused by their batterers. According to the November 1998, U.S. General Accounting Office Report to Congressional Committees regarding Domestic Violence [4] , abusive partners “often feel threatened by women’s efforts to improve themselves and become financially independent.” Abusive partners may sabotage women’s efforts to get job training or employment by “promising child care that they then fail to deliver; destroying or hiding items the women need for the [employment] activities; and inflicting visible signs of abuse, such as bruises, black eyes, and cigarette burns, so the women will be too embarrassed to go to training, work or a job interview.” In addition, an abusive partner may interfere with a woman’s ability to work by harassing he
