Building Bridges to Safety and Justice: Stories of Survival and Resistance

The authors offer three narratives of women survivors who are engaged in organizing around issues of gender-based violence. Common themes include experiences of the cycle of violence, a wide range of control tactics used by abusers, the difficulties of breaking free, economic injustice, the complexities that children bring to leaving, and multiple barriers in community and public services, particularly for low-income and immigrant women. The narratives also demonstrate how the survivors found their voices and stand in solidarity with other survivors. The stories are analyzed from a policy perspective using a capabilities lens.