Rape and domestic violence shelters

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The impact on women when they are forced to share with men the places that are supposed to protect and support them.

Vulnerable women will be placed at risk and made to suffer additional stress if rape and violence shelters, which should be spaces of safety, include men.

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The first women’s shelter in Switzerland was opened in Zurich in 1979. Today, there are a total of 23 women shelters, with 200 family rooms and around 400 beds, but even these are insufficient. In 2024, approximately 2400 women and children sought refuge in a shelter. The Council of Europe recommends one room per 10’000 inhabitants; Switzerland is below the recommended number with only 0.23 family rooms per 10’000 inhabitants.

Despite the fact that there is insufficient shelter space for women in Switzerland, women’s shelters are now extending their services to include men who claim to be women. This is the case for Stiftung Gegen Gewalt in Bern, which offers a specific help service to “transgender” victims of domestic violence.

Here is an example: In 2018, in Canada, Kristi Hanna was housed in a women's addiction recovery shelter in Toronto. She was forced to share a room with a man who claimed to be a woman. As a victim of sexual assault and a recovering drug addict, she spent two nights in the shelter under enormous stress. “It’s affecting everyone in the house. This can completely ruin your recovery, let alone your safety, let alone your life,” Kristi said in an interview with the National Post.

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When she complained about having to share a room with a man, Kristi was told to leave the shelter. A friend of hers inquired about Kristi's rights at Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre, and the employee abruptly ended the call when she used male pronouns to refer to the man she was complaining about.

Femina Helvetica is working towards keeping women’s shelters in Switzerland for women only.

The shift in terminology from ‘sex-based violence’ to ‘gender-based violence’ obscures the fact that this primarily involves violence perpetrated by men against women.

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This redefinition undermines the services and therapeutic outcomes for women in women’s shelters if these facilities grant access to men. 

Femina Helvetica calls for sex-based services not to be replaced by “gender”-based services.