Women on the move: theorising the geographies of domestic violence journeys in England

Abstract

This article draws on a mixed-methods research project which mapped and quantified women’s journeys to escape domestic violence in England, and builds on the empirical findings to theorise about the nature of such journeys. Identifying a process of gendered migration within the United Kingdom it explores these journeys using concepts of forced exile from international migration research; and concepts of rhizomic and dendriform movement within space. Tens of thousands of women and children within the UK are forced to relocate due to domestic violence every year, yet their journeys have been under-recognised in policy and practice, and under-theorised in terms of their relationship to other migrations. Using administrative data from housing-related support services to which women and children travel, and interview, survey and creative groupwork data from women who have relocated, the research enabled conceptualisation of both the individual and aggregated nature of the journeys. Empirically the journeys are found to be very individual and complex, with multiple segments; but including the possibility of women understanding the individual violation of their human rights within a more collective and structural context. The research therefore conceptualises these domestic violence journeys as moving from forced individual exiles, via complex, fragmented and rhizomic lines of flight, towards diasporic connections and processes of resettlement and belonging. Focusing on the early stages of such journeys, this article provides a theoretical framework which enables both a greater understanding of women’s actions to escape violence, and an underpinning for preventative and service responses.