{"id":10712,"date":"2019-03-08T09:46:24","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T14:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=10712"},"modified":"2022-10-09T07:43:53","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T11:43:53","slug":"international-womens-day-invisible-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/international-womens-day-invisible-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Invisible Women: The Gender Imbalance in Homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe triggers for women\u2019s homelessness are often different and their trajectories while homeless are often different, women\u2019s experience of homelessness is different. Gender plays a role.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Bretherton, 2017:5<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

International Women\u2019s Day is today, March 8. A global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, this year\u2019s theme is \u2018balance\u2019. Just as there are gender imbalances in the world at large, there are imbalances in homelessness.<\/p>\n

Ask someone what homelessness looks like and they\u2019ll often describe a man with a beard and a sleeping bag. Such an image dominates the media and the public imagination. This not only stereotypes people who are homeless but also makes women invisible. And why? Because when it comes to homelessness they often are.<\/p>\n

Hidden Homeless<\/h4>\n

In the United Kingdom and North America, women are more likely than men to be part of the \u2018hidden homeless\u2019, unseen in official statistics. Rather than sleep rough, women will stay with friends or family until they have no option but to leave. They often juggle accommodation and sofa-surfing for years, with little privacy and no legal right to occupancy. This leaves them vulnerable to exploitation, such as engaging in temporary intimate relationships in exchange for a bed for the night \u2013 relationships they would not choose if they weren\u2019t homeless.<\/p>\n

Rough Sleeping<\/h4>\n

More women are homeless or sleeping rough in Britain than in previous decades. But while figures for women rough sleeping \u2013 those on the streets or in temporary shelters \u2013 are growing, they are still much lower than for men. In part, this is because women are hiding. They are literally out of sight, sleeping in vehicles, graveyards or toilets or riding the bus all night as a strategy<\/a> for staying safe. But, by hiding for safety, women don\u2019t appear in street counts, such as those carried out in Britain<\/a>, and are excluded from outreach support services that simply can\u2019t find them.<\/p>\n

According to a recent St Mungo\u2019s report<\/a>, women also avoid male-dominated homelessness services, which means they are missing out on much needed support. This avoidance can in part be attributed to the high rate of domestic violence experienced by women rough sleeping. This is often a cause, as well as a consequence, of women\u2019s and girls\u2019 homelessness. In fact, a survey<\/a> of 40 females rough sleeping in Kent in the UK found:<\/p>\n