Inside the Hidden World of Homeless Women: Experiences of Belonging through Care Practices among Homeless Women in Eindhoven

Abstract

Women make up a relatively small part of the homeless population people in Eindhoven, due to which they partly remain more hidden in academic research than their male counterparts. The purpose of this research is to shine a light upon their hidden world to gain an understanding of how they experience the homeless organisations which offer care and how this subsequently impacts their sense of belonging and citizenship within Eindhoven. This research addresses the functioning of a new system among the homeless organisations in Eindhoven and continues to provide insights into how the practices of care can result in feelings of exclusion and how this is experienced. Furthermore, it focuses on the effects on citizenship and thereby belonging within social relations and spatial contexts. This research contributes to insights into what homelessness does to single women and can provide a better understanding of how women are treated and seen within shelters. With ethnographic research methods such as participant observation, interviews, and informal conversations a light will be shed on how homeless women see the system they are in, how they experience the care they receive (or not), and how they perceive their position within society.