A little girl crawled around in the play nook in the kitchen. She lives in a crisis center in Ålesund with her mother. Almost all rooms are full today. – Some stay one night, others live here for months, says daily manager Cecilie Rønstad Teunissen. But it is not only women exposed to violence who are allowed to seek refuge here. Lately there have also been men in the house. According to the law, women and men must live physically separate from each other, but the men who have been given a place at the crisis center in Ålesund then live in the same housing as the women, and can freely use the kitchen and common area. – We base it on the fact that there are people exposed to violence who need help. I have a bit of a problem seeing how important gender is, says Teunissen. Cecilie Rønstad Teunissen is the day-to-day manager at the Crisis Center for Sunnmøre. She believes the law should be changed so that women and men exposed to violence can live together. Photo: Remi Sagen / news Wants to change the law She believes that the law should be changed so that the requirement to separate women and men is removed. – We are a trade union that believes that the law is out of date. In the last 10–15 years, a lot has happened in terms of how we view violence in close relationships, says Teunissen. She believes that the problem is independent of gender. Ålesund municipality is investigating whether it is possible to build a separate section for men at the existing crisis centre. Photo: Remi Sagen / news In 2022, the Romerike Crisis Center started a project over two years where both women and men live together. – So far we have only had positive experiences. We do not experience any unfortunate consequences from men and women being in common areas together, says daily manager, Hege Edvardsen. The experience is, on the contrary, that the women see that men can also be victims. The system will be evaluated by researchers afterwards, and Edvardsen says that they must be careful about making a decision about what is the correct organization before the experiment is finished. Increase in men in crisis centers Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp) does not know the case in Sunnmøre, but says that the ministry is looking into whether there is a need to change the law. The plan is to send out consultation notes during the year. Photo: Tom Balgaard / Tom Balgaard/news Figures from the crisis center show that last year more men were registered as breadwinners than a year earlier. On a national basis, 189 men volunteered at a crisis centre, compared to 159 the previous year. Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp) says that the ministry is looking into whether there is a need for changes to the Crisis Center Act. In this work, they will also look at the requirement for physically separate storage sheds for women and men. – It is too early to say whether we will propose changes and possibly what kind of changes will be proposed, says Toppe. It is open to the crisis center to have a wards solution today, where women and men stay in separate wards with different entrances. If placed in a hotel in Sunnmøre, they do not have a dispensation to house men and women together. This is therefore reported as a deviation to the State Administrator. Section leader in Ålesund municipality, Vivian Dyb, says that they are working to find a solution to the matter. – It is an offense against the law and we are completely honest about that, says Dyb. It has bid approx. 10 men at the crisis center this year. Before, the municipality had its own flat for men and their children, but in January 2023 the offer was merged with the offer for women. Not all men who make contact are invited to the crisis centre. The municipality has an agreement with a hotel that they can stay at, others are offered follow-up where they are. The municipality is now investigating the possibility of expanding the existing building and creating a separate section for men. The daily manager, Cecilie Rønstad Teunissen, would like an extension, but not just for men. – We would like to have a screened unit. It can both be used to divide gender, but also different types of challenges. It could be drugs, mental health or children with autism, says Teunissen. The daily manager, Cecilie Rønstad Teunissen, would like an extension, but not just for men. Photo: Remi Sagen / news
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Crisis center for Sunnmøre broke the law when they let men live at the crisis center together with women – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
