The Silenced Pain: Domestic violence 1945‐1970

Abstract

This article discusses domestic violence in the UK between 1945 and 1970 before the most recent burst of the women's movement. Drawing on the findings of a small-scale retrospective research study, the authors outline the position of women in the new welfare state of the period and discuss employment, marriage, divorce, and attitudes to motherhood in relation to domestic violence. With attention to class and race factors, the paper goes on to describe the lack of services on all levels for women experiencing domestic violence (particularly perhaps as regards housing and the police), and the severe impact of such violence on women at the time, from which there were few avenues of escape. It identifies the pride and resistance of many interviewees and the long-term tragedy which has imbued their lives-lives which, even now, so very many years later, are deeply scarred by hidden pain. The research study found a widespread and enduring silence about domestic abuse in the post-war period and the paper is an exploratory piece to assist in breaking that silence. It aims to provide a voice for the women interviewees, now reaching the end of their lives, many of whom have spoken about the violence which they experienced for the first time, and to pay public tribute to their bravery and suffering and strength.