When I attended Adelphi University in New York State in the late 80's and early 90's for my Master's Degree in Social Work, I did a field placement with battered women in Poughkeepsie, New York. I also wrote a paper on the percentage of battered women who leave their abusers and how often they do so based on national statistics I gleaned from local libraries. One statistic I read in 1990 said that abused females tend to leave their abusers between three to five times before they finally leave for good. My own experiences with these women while serving my field placement showed this to be true. Also, my own experiences as an abused wife during my first marriage demonstrated that I had to leave my husband at least one time before I left him for good. The main reasons for this are economic, which is why middle and upper class women are more hesitant to leave than lower class women. The higher class husbands are usually the main economic providers. In many lower class families, the wives and girlfriends are supporting their husbands and domestic partners. This is definitely true in my case as during my marriage I was attending college and working on my Bachelors' Degree in English. It wasn't until after I graduated with my BA that I was able to find a job above minimum wage to support my daughter and myself.
The heroine of my novel,
Letting Go, Margery Arturo, also leaves her husband temporarily until she finally is able to graduate from college and obtain a real job. Margery also becomes a counselor at a battered women's shelter and encourages other women in how to develop independence from their partners. This novel is based on my own personal experiences as well as my observations developed in working with this group.
If anyone has any comments to add to this subject, you are welcome to reply on this blog. Thanking you for taking an interest in this important subject.
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