CCChat_2

What made you go into this line
of work?
I have always been interested in social
justice and I believe that violence
against women and girls is an
enduring social injustice which erodes
all women’s choices.
Male violence continues to be an
accepted fact across society and this is
damaging to boys, girls, men and
women. I realised I was a feminist
after I had my daughter, before then I
could see the ongoing reality of
gendered labour divisions, the glass
ceiling and expectations upon mothers
to behave in a particular way, which do
not affect men in the same way.
We have twenty staff and around 25
volunteers supporting victim/survivors
of domestic abuse across Swale and
Medway. I am currently in the process
of writing up my PhD thesis which is
entitled “Impossible Expectations? A
Study of the Experiences of Abused
Mothers in the Child Protection
System” and the research which I have
carried out has helped me shape the
services we now provide – putting
women at the heart of way.
“ I became determined that he would not have expectations
lumped upon his “masculinity” due to his gender."
I did not want my daughter growing up
in a world where she had any less
chances to fulfil her ambitions than a
boy.
When I had my son, I became
determined that he would not have
expectations lumped upon his
“masculinity” due to his gender.
This is when I realised that my passion
for social justice, my feminist views
and my law degree should be used to
effect change.
I started out for the first three years as
an IDVA directly supporting high risk
victims of domestic abuse, and when
the founder of SATEDA left to pursue
new challenges I was asked by our
Board of Trustees to step in to the
role. Now here I am four years later!
How do people react when you
tell them what you do? Outside of
the DV sector that is!
I either get a disclosure of abuse,
historic or current, either about them
or someone they know – or, anger and
disbelief that DA even exists and an
argument that some women enjoy it,
some women ask for it, and women are
also violent to men.
Both of these responses tell me that we
have a long way to go until the
acceptance of intimate and gendered
violence is a thing of the past. I f all we
do.
Liza Thompson, CEO SATEDA