<P> Women's shelters evolved over time . Grassroots community advocates in the 1970s offered shelters as one of the first services for victims of intimate partner violence . At this time, most shelters were for emergencies and involved stays less than six months . Volunteers and shelter workers offered legal and welfare referrals to women when they exited but contact afterwards was limited . More recent programs, such as those funded by the Violence Against Women Act, offer longer term stays for women . These locations, as well as transitional housing, offer more services to women and their children . Another recent change is the increasing amount of shelters publicizing their locations to increase funding and visibility in the community . </P> <P> Due to a larger women's movement, the number of shelters quickly increased after their induction and by 1977 the United States had eighty - nine shelters available for victims of violence . By 2000, the United States had over 2,000 domestic violence programs in place, many with domestic violence shelters included . </P> <P> For Asia, offering shelter to abused women is not a new concept . In feudal Japan, Buddhist temples known as Kakekomi Dera acted as locations where abused women could take shelter before filing for divorce . A formal system took more time, however, so it was not until 1993 that the grassroots women's movement of Japan built the first shelter . Today, there are thirty shelters throughout the country . A similar history did not lead to as much progress in China . Women's shelters did not exist until the nineties and since then the country only opened a small number . In Beijing there are no shelters for the twenty million residents . </P> <P> In England, Erin Pizzey opened the first widely known shelter for battered women, Chiswick Women's Aid in 1971 . Since this time almost every European country has opened shelters to help domestic violence victims . Two countries even offer shelters for particular ethnicities and cultures . Additionally, a new development in Europe is that countries like the Netherlands and Austria opened social housing for long term stays . One reason for this growth is the Istanbul Convention against Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, a convention signed by forty - seven Council of Europe member states in 2011 . An article in the Convention sets the creation of women's shelters as a minimum standard for compliance . Following austerity two thirds of local authorities in England have cut funding for women's refuges since 2010 . </P>

The first recorded women’s shelter in north america was established in 1885 and based in which city