What does a woman do when the man she lives with beats her frequently? When she has small children, no friends to help her in a sustained way, and little or no money? Lacking any viable options in the past, most women have had to stay in this very oppressive situation. But, in the last few years women have begun to create mechanisms to help themselves and other women with this widespread problem. Battered women's hotlines, support groups, and shelters have sprung up all over this and other countries.

The women who come to live at the temporary residence for battered women and their children where I staff begin to understand how they have been pressured into accepting some man's abusive treatment and control over their lives; how they were encouraged to believe the beatings were their fault; why our society had left them virtually no options; and how they can work together with other women to create their own options and break out of this self-defeating pattern of living. And, many of them do!

The aspect of this work that I find so exciting is that it addresses basic personal and cultural questions, not just symptomatic issues. For example, staff members don't concentrate primarily on trying to obtain better wages and working conditions for women, although we certainly realize that when women are able to get decent jobs and equal pay, they are less likely to tolerate abuse out of financial desperation. Instead, we ask the question: why are women subjected to all manner of oppressive treatment, frequently involving personal injury and sometimes even death?

As the shelter residents begin to see some of the answers to this question, they lose some of the fear they had of others' power over them. They develop more of a sense of personal power, and they see additional ways to better their lives. And, as they make changes in their lives, others notice, ask questions, and slowly attitudes change.

If we believe that much of what's wrong with our contemporary world stems from the domination of some people by others; and the lack of a strong sense of personal power on the part of many people to affect their own lives, then I think work of this type-work which helps and encourages people to take back some control in their lives-is probably the most important long-range political work we can do.

Others may look back with longing to the good feelings that came from working with multitudes of like-minded people in the many movements of the sixties. While I believe that sort of experience is very important and wish I could get some more of it from time to time, I don't regret the passing of that era too much. I find today and tomorrow with the increasing emphasis on personal power and growth through collective effort much more alive with potential for social change. So... who needs the good old days?!

-Ann Kotell