Women’s Homelessness in Europe

"This is an important collection of nuanced analyses by top scholars of how gender shapes women's experiences of homelessness and societal responses to it in ways that too often render women invisible to researchers, policy makers, and service providers." (Marybeth Shinn, Vanderbilt University, Peabody College, USA) "An assessment of the current state of knowledge about women's homelessness in Europe is long overdue. This volume, authored by a fine selection of leading European homelessness researchers, provides an excellent overview of what we know about different aspects of women's homelessness. This impressive collection of contributions also shows the pressing need for further research on gender dimensions of homelessness and related policy responses." (Volker Busch-Geertsema, GISS Institute, Germany, and Co-Ordinator of the European Observatory on Homelessness, Belgium)

This book marks a critical contribution in assessing and extending the evidence base on the causes and consequences of women’s homelessness.This book marks a critical contribution in assessing and extending the evidence base on the causes and consequences of women’s homelessness. Drawing together work from Europe’s leading homelessness scholars, it presents a multidisciplinary and comparative analysis of this acute social problem, including its relationship with domestic violence, lone parenthood, motherhood, health and well-being and women’s experience of sustained and recurrent homelessness. Working from diverse perspectives, the authors look at the responses to women’s homelessness in differing cultures and regions, and within various forms of welfare states. They focus in particular on relating the gender dimensions of welfare and social policy to women’s experiences when they become homeless. This innovative and timely edited volume will appeal to students and scholars of sociology, social policy, anthropology, and gender and women’s studies, along with international policy-makers.