ANDREA BREM
Social worker. Women's shelter manager. Feminist.
Violence against women is a major social problem and always a question of power. Andrea Brem dedicates her professional life entirely to the fight against violence against women. After 13 years of experience as a social worker in a women's shelter, she has been in charge of Vienna's women's shelters since 2001 and has greatly expanded their services over the years. Now there are 4 women's shelters, 54 transitional homes and a counselling center that offer protection and counselling to women and their children living in Vienna in cases of domestic violence. Andrea Brem is committed to making domestic violence visible and openly opposes trivialising reporting in the media. For her commitment she was awarded, among other things, the Golden Decoration of Merit of the Province of Vienna and the Women's Award of the City of Vienna.
Andrea Brem / © Elisabeth Mandl
“All over the world, women are beaten, tortured and killed by their (ex-) partners. And yet violence against women is still presented as a personal and private problem, not as a socio-political one. Violence is trivialised, women are often blamed for the abuse - this must finally change!”
Vienna's women's shelters / Campain 2022
In the beginning I was very much in love ... 40 Years of Vienna Women's Shelters accompanying book to the exhibition of the same name from 27 April 2018 to 30 September 2018 at the Volkskundemuseum Wien / 55 pages / in German / ISBN 9783902381552
“I realised already as a very young woman that in order to achieve something for women, I had to have the courage to be resistant and annoying. And when I got into a leadership position, I realised that I had to persist in my demands and that the headwinds from all sides only got stronger – as a woman, you don’t get anything for free. Nevertheless, I managed to take up many good ideas and put them into practice – a lot is possible if a woman believes in her values!”
