Around three women are now murdered in Austria every month. In the majority of the murders of women, there was a relationship or family relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. According to media reports, 14 women were already murdered in 2023, twelve of which are believed to have been femicides.
(Source: Association of Autonomous Austrian Women’s Refuges (AÖF), as of June 15, 2023)
Violence can happen to any woman. Women’s shelters are life-saving measures, the intensive care units in protection against violence. Birgit Thaler-Haag found these clear words for the need for protective facilities for women and children on Wednesday at the opening of the long-awaited women’s shelter in Braunau. The women’s shelter manager in Salzburg and AÖF chairwoman spoke of high-risk situations in which women find themselves in challenging times like these. The “Renate Mann” house is a safe place for women to heal wounds.
Specifically, the new facility at a location not publicly known is a safe haven for six women and twelve children who have to flee domestic violence. The only women’s shelter in the Innviertel in Ried was always overloaded, Thaler-Haag reported many inquiries from the Braunau district in Salzburg. With the new one in Braunau, there are now six women’s shelters in Upper Austria, two of them in the Innviertel: Linz, Wels, Steyr, Vöcklabruck, Ried and now Braunau. “Violence against women and children is completely unacceptable. It is therefore a good and important sign to invest more in the expansion of women’s shelters in Upper Austria. The aim of the state is to create an offer that is as regional as possible,” said Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander.
Hence the “Renate Mann” house
The Braunau women’s shelter is inextricably linked to one name: Renate Mann. In 2008, the Braunau native and social democrat set herself the goal of building a women’s shelter, but the road to get there was rocky and tedious. All permits have been on paper since 2021, and a few months later Renate Mann died completely unexpectedly. On the day of the groundbreaking a year ago, she would have celebrated her 69th birthday. “We owe the tireless commitment of Renate Mann to the fact that we have built the women’s shelter that is so urgently needed. We are happy and grateful that we are offering help, protection and security to women and children in the region affected by violence through the construction of the house can,” says Ingeborg Angerer. The chairwoman of the Frauenhaus Braunau association and her team brought Renate Mann’s heart project to an end.
The construction costs amount to around 1.5 million euros, most of which are financed by the social affairs department and the housing promotion department. The property is owned by the Municipality of Braunau. “It’s a nice occasion that we can hand over the house to its intended purpose. On the other hand, it makes me sad that we need such a facility. I still have the numbers from the pandemic times in my head, in which the authority entered every third day issued a ban on entry or an eviction. That shows how necessary this house is,” says VP Mayor of the city of Braunau, Hannes Waidbacher.
The expansion of women’s shelters and transitional housing for women is part of the women’s strategy “Women.Life 2030” and is anchored in the state’s current government program. In the near future, the Inner Salzkammergut and the Lower Mühlviertel will have women’s shelters.
As reported, the women’s shelter in Ried is being rebuilt. After the ground-breaking ceremony in autumn 2022, construction work on the mother-child house with twelve places has now begun. The excavators are currently in use for the preparation of the slope stabilization, according to OÖN request from the office of the Women’s Councilor Haberlander.
Contact: The Braunau women’s shelter can be reached 24 hours a day by phone 07722/87700. Further contact options at www.frauenhaus-braunau.at and by e-mail office@frauenhaus-braunau.at
Source: Nachrichten
