Wesely & Wright (2005) explore the rapport that homeless women have with their intimate partners. The study focused on women being homeless instead of other demographic groups since they insisted that women become homeless in a very extra ordinary way. They also exhibited peculiar methods of dealing with homelessness thus preventing a repetitive future occurrence.
A study comprising of 974 homeless women revealed that 34% of homeless women had experienced some kind of major kind of violence in the past one year. On further analysis, it was revealed that 64% of homeless women in women shelters had experienced some violence in their lifetime (Wesely, & Wright, 2005, p. 1082). Their relationship with drugs and alcohol was also notably high.
The information was collected by two methods. The first was interviews while the second focus groups. The findings of this research indicated that homelessness was triggered in childhood and especially caused by sexual abuse. When the victims grew up and engaged in adult relationships, they always went sour since it was mainly to counteract their abusive childhood (Wesely, & Wright, 2005, p. 1084). Since they entered this relationship at a very tender age, their partners often got them pregnant then left them to fend for themselves. In such a situation, most women would result to drugs with the ambition to null their psychological pain or end up homeless since they had no source of income if their relationship partners were necessary for their upkeep.
In conclusion, the desperate conditions of their childhood made them leave their homes willingly as soon as they found a potential suitor or unwillingly of being chased away from the only place they knew as home for most of their lives. In both conditions, this is bound to be a slow and disastrous path to poverty, drugs, life in the streets and finally homelessness (Wesely, & Wright, 2005, p. 1100). However, the government should take interest in these cases and cater for their education, housing, financial assistance and other methods that may help them rise from the given situation and lead a more fruitful life. These women must be given a chance to live a normal life just like any other members of the society
Reference
Wesely, J. K., & Wright, J. D. (2005) The Patience of Partners Between Women’s Homelessness and Their Adult Relationship: American Behavioral Scientist, 48 (8) 1082-1101.
