The richness of what women achieved between the 1970s and the 1990s is enormous. In the first animation, all the initiatives I came across appear, more than a hundred and fifty of them. There was even a working group against trafficking in women, when it turned out that Thai women were being held captive in Brabant.

During the research, the context of violence against women became much broader for me. Through the words of the women’s movement I understood how much is connected to it. They also saw pornography and sexualised advertising as a form of violence, because these reduce a woman to an object that is either sexy or not sexy.

It is also in what the women’s groups did. Emancipation is a form of resistance. Courses such as “How do I say what I think” and “How do I stand up for myself”. Or simply meetings where women shared experiences, gave each other advice and widened their networks. That made women more resilient, against violence too.

The women’s movement also campaigned for work for women. Work offered a social network and financial freedom. For women who were not simply allowed out on their own by their husbands, it was a way to be outside the house. But violence can happen outside the house too.

The women did not sit still. They set up shelters, telephone lines such as Vrouwen Bellen Vrouwen (Women Call Women) and the Tilburg Women’s Telephone, and self-defence courses.

Sources: Trafficking: Vrouwenradio Den Bosch (BHIC, access 2158), inv. no. 65 (23 May 1986). Courses: Vrouwenkrant Tilburg, 1 April 1977 and 1 January 1979. Vrouwen Bellen Vrouwen: Vrouwenkrant Tilburg, 1 October 1977; Tilburg Women’s Telephone: 22 March 1978; self-defence course in Den Bosch: ROSA, volume 1977-78, p. 14.