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The recounting women project

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The Recounting Women project, photovoices, mapping austerityMapping the impact of austerity measures on the women and children Women’s Aid groups in Scotland support.

Recounting Women is a participatory photovoice project that supports women to reflect on, share and highlight issues related to their personal experiences of domestic abuse.

A key theme of the project is to gather evidence of the impact that welfare reform, cuts to social security and other austerity measures have on women’s ability to rebuild their lives.

Women also wanted to highlight the other barriers they experienced in accessing justice, education, work and housing, as well as the impact of domestic abuse on their own and their children’s health and wellbeing.

The project has provided a unique platform for women who have experienced domestic abuse and whose voice is rarely heard in public policy making, to anonymously and creatively share information about the issues that affect them.

The Recounting Women Project is a partnership between Scottish Women’s Aid, Perthshire Women’s Aid and Glasgow East Women’s Aid and is supported by funding from Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Digital Challenge Fund.

It was developed from work with Women’s Aid groups in Scotland to map the impact of austerity measures on the women and children they support.

In the first phase women were recruited to the project through their involvement with Perthshire Women’s Aid.

Ten weekly group sessions were held between October 2015 and January 2016.

In the second phase weekly group sessions were held between February and March 2016 with women recruited through Glasgow East Women’s Aid.

In these sessions women defined the issues that were most important to them, developed photography and other digital skills and how to use images and text to tell stories.

All the photography was created on digital point and shoot cameras.

The text with one picture: ‘A letter comes in the door and your stomach just goes like the waltzers. You have this fear and almost a phobia about opening mail. I stopped opening it – it makes me feel physically sick and it doesn’t stop, I have to deal with this every week.’

Or ‘I had to buy these shoes when I was made homeless they were £6 from Tesco. I lost all my belongings – I walked everywhere in them. I can’t throw them away even though they have holes in them. From riches to rags.’

The text on another: ‘When you go to the Jobcentre you feel so humiliated and disbelieved. I kept applying for jobs and couldn’t get any interviews, even though I had the skills and experience. You don’t get any feedback. I feel left on the scrap heap because of my age.’

And: ‘Light at the end of the tunnel, that’s what everyone says, but how do I get there, with no money, no bed. Light at the end of the tunnel – but when?’

Click here to see the project’s pictures.

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