Synopsis

Erin Pizzey, founder of Chiswick Women's Aid, describes setting up the first Women's Aid Centre in a once-derelict house in Chiswick in 1971. The main part of the video is interviews with the residents explaining the difficulties they had escaping abusive partners and finding a place of safety when confronted by the indifferent and often hostile attitudes of the period and the legal restraints imposed on social services support and police action. Erin makes a plea for a change in attitudes toward domestic violence and for changes in social and legal policy.