ABSTRACT
This chapter will attempt to set the violence which each woman had experienced in the context of the relationship between her and her husband. What was the nature and the extent of the violence? What appeared to trigger off the assaults? To what extent was the violence associated with other marital problems? And what attempts had the women made in the past to escape from their marriages? This chapter will discuss these and other questions, with the aim of developing an understanding of the problems which the women were facing when they approached the refuge, and the statutory agencies, for help.
