For example, they many not be able to raise money for the first and last month's rent required by most landlords. If a woman does not work, if her family cannot help her, and if welfare grants are not enough to live on, she may eventually decide that being beaten is the price she must pay for financial survival. Still another reason that battered women don't leave their husbands is, quite simply, fear. Finally, getting out of a violent relationship is often made more difficult by a lack of community resources. Even if there are shelters or safe houses in the area, these facilities ordinarily operate at full capacity, and a woman may have to wait days or weeks before there is room for her and her children.
Many women also find it virtually impossible to obtain legal counsel.
A problem like this frequently deters women from obtaining restraining orders and filing for separation or divorce. If a woman gets beaten, it's probably because she did something to provoke her husband . The woman who is really serious about solving the problem could just have her husband arrested and put in jail. Most battered women grew up in families where there was violence. Studies indicate that less than half of the women who are battered were exposed to violence as they were growing up.