The idea of creating a place dedicated to caring for female victims of violence emerged during the municipal campaign in Nanterre.
During a citizen workshop on women's rights in the Chemin-de-l'Île district in 2019, one of the participants speaks, hesitantly.
She recounts the blows, the need to be supported.
Speech is released.
Others follow suit.
Three years later, the women's house opens its doors this Tuesday on the terraces of the arch, near the exit of the RER Nanterre Préfecture*.
“This house is open to all the women of Nanterre, who live and work there.
The reception is unconditional, anonymous and free”, summarizes Nadhia Kacel, coordinator of the premises during the inauguration this Saturday in the presence of the Minister responsible for Equality between women and men, Isabelle Lonvis-Rome.
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This 400 m² space, spread over two floors, allows both a confidential reception of victims and the organization of debates and training around the promotion of equality.
The ground floor is dedicated to collective activities and services, the first to medical consultations and appointments with four soundproof offices.
"It's a beautiful global care center in connection with justice and the police and it's very important because when a woman decides to speak, you must not let her go", greets the minister.
“The good thing is that this house is not in the middle of the neighborhood, because that can put women off”
“The equipment is one of a kind in Île-de-France, underlines Patrick Jarry, mayor (DVG) of Nanterre.
He has benefited from other experiences of this type.
The idea is to accompany, guide, accompany women victims of violence with a network that is on the front line on this.
This collective mobilization is essential because trauma and fear are compounded by the difficulty of finding someone to listen to.
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All of the services and activities offered there are provided by a network of association partners specializing in supporting women who are victims of violence: the departmental association for the assistance of victims of criminal offences, the reception of women in difficulty (Afed 92), the Lawyers network for women victims of violence (AFVV), the Arple and Mamans de Pablo associations, the information center on the rights of women and families (CIDFF 92).
In addition to these structures, there are public partners such as the PMI, the Nanterre reception and hospital care center (CASH), the Nanterre police station, etc.
Each woman will thus be able to benefit, all in the same place, from a specialized listening and access, free of charge, to legal, medical or psychological consultations.
"What's good is that this house is not in the middle of the neighborhood, because that can put a brake on women," rejoices Fatiha Abdouni, president of Les Mamans des Pablo, who will hold the social café one or two days a week on square.
And there won't be any more running around since all the services will be on site.
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Domestic violence, priority of the minors and families pole of the prosecution
Initially, its structure was not dedicated to supporting abused women.
“We helped mothers to better support their children in their schooling, recalls this woman of character from the Pablo-Picasso district.
Very quickly, we had the confidence of the parents and only two months after our creation, the first files of conjugal violence and incest began to arrive.
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In seven years, Fatiha Abdouni's association has followed and supported around fifty women in their efforts to free themselves from the grip of a violent or abusive husband.
Most of the situations resulted in a divorce and some legal warnings, but no convictions.
However, for the minors and families pole of the Nanterre public prosecutor's office, domestic violence is a priority.
“Every day, out of all the police custody handled by our center, we have about twenty for domestic violence, underlines Anne-Dominique Merville, deputy prosecutor at the judicial court.
These are two-thirds of our business.
The difficulty for us is the freedom of speech.
We need complaints so that we can act, then there is the evidence, the materiality of the facts.
In this, this women's center can be a real relay to explain how justice works.
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Open Tuesday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to noon and from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 215, terrasse de l'Arche.
Telephone: 01.71.11.44.75.
Email: maisondesfemmes@mairie-nanterre.fr.