Women in Gilroy have higher incidences of violence against them
than rest of county
Santa Clara County founded the Commission on the Status of Women
of Santa Clara County in 1973 to prevent women’s’ needs from being
overlooked in local, state and federal government. But more than 20
years later, women are still struggling with many of the same
problems they had in the 70s and in some cases the situation is
worse.
Women in Gilroy have higher incidences of violence against them than rest of county
Santa Clara County founded the Commission on the Status of Women of Santa Clara County in 1973 to prevent women’s’ needs from being overlooked in local, state and federal government. But more than 20 years later, women are still struggling with many of the same problems they had in the 70s and in some cases the situation is worse.
The issues facing south Santa Clara County women are the same as those throughout the county – domestic violence, substance abuse, the cost of childcare – but the problems are exacerbated by a lack of local resources.
“If you live in San Jose, it’s not nearly as challenging to go across town to get resources,” said Erin O’Brien, the president/CEO of Community Solutions, a nonprofit agency working with low-income populations in south Santa Clara and San Benito counties. “Here, if you don’t have a car, the bus makes it really hard to get up there. Try doing that when hauling two kids along.”
The local nonprofit agency, which services Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Benito County, relies on county funds to cover 80 percent of their yearly expenses. Community Solutions offers no-cost or low-cost after school programs, domestic violence counseling and other mental health services to low-income families.
“For the last five years, we have been in a cut mode,” O’Brien said. “There is a strong sense that the need is not matched by the resources.”
Supervisor Don Gage agreed with O’Brien’s assessment of services in the region he represents.
“The only agencies down there to offer those services are Community Solutions and the Mexican-American Community Services Agency and they are underfunded,” he said. “The last couple of years, the county cut funding by $800,000 to community agencies, but I had it restored. We made an effort to keep them funded.”
Community Solutions offers a critical service to women as one of the only providers of domestic violence prevention, education and counseling programs south of San Jose.
Domestic violence is a continuing problem in Santa Clara County, especially in Gilroy. The Gilroy Police Department received five calls reporting domestic violence per every 1,000 residents in 2000, according to the California Department of Finance. The average in San Jose for the same year was less than 4 per 1,000 residents.
“Gilroy is almost always [ranked] one or two in the county,” said Esther Perales-Diekman, director of the Office of Women’s Advocacy in Santa Clara County.
More disturbing than the high rate of domestic violence is that more women are being incarcerated on the charge, Perales-Diekman said. Since 1988, the percentage of women arrested for domestic violence has been steadily increasing nationally.
“Women are being booked as aggressors – the women who fight back,” Perales-Diekman said. “Whomever gets to the phone first to call the police is the victim. It doesn’t look at the history of 10 to15 years of the relationship.”
O’Brien agreed.
“Frequently, it’s a matter that the police are going to arrest someone,” O’Brien said. “They get to the scene. He maybe has scratches on his face and he’s calm. She is very agitated.”
Generally the number of women arrested has been going up each year, Perales-Diekman said.
“In Santa Clara (County), the largest offense is drug charges,” she said. “There are increased penalties for women who don’t represent a threat to society.”
Perales-Diekman said there is a connection between women who are victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse and the use of drugs or alcohol. Once they are in the prison system, few programs are designed to help women deal with the issues that led to substance abuse in the first place, she added.
“If women are dealing with the violence they have experienced, they have a better outcome,” Perales-Diekman said. “It’s a big concern because of the cycle of violence. These women are coming from family settings.”
Gaining a clear picture of women’s concerns is a problem because many government agencies do not sort data by gender.
“The data on women is sometimes hard to track down,” Perales-Diekman said. “Not every county tracks that data to give the bigger picture.”
The commission and Supervisor Don Gage held on open forum April 12 for Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin families who wanted to share their concerns about the issues facing women.
“The need is much more in that area, even though there is a small percentage of the overall county,” said Perales-Diekman, who is working to compile a report from the information gathered at the forum. “The perception was that they feel they are in an area that has largely been ignored.”
