The Young Women's Empowerment Centres

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Many of the empowerment centres are attached to a women’s shelter, but their work is different from the work of the shelters.

The biggest difference is that the empowerment centres meet girls who have questions about all kinds of things, not just to do with violence. They want to talk about relationships, sex, bullying, anxiety about the future, conflicts with their parents, substance abuse, sexual assault... everything a girl or young woman wonders about.

Another difference is that the empowerment centres work more with outreach and prevention than the women’s shelters do. For example, they visit schools to run girls’ groups, and arrange summer camps and self-defence classes. The empowerment centres want to be a voice for young girls, and often influence public opinion in questions which affect young girls’ daily lives.

The target group varies from centre to centre but is usually girls and young women aged from 13 to their early twenties. Some centres have a telephone helpline, but most contact is by mail or on-line chat.

You can also meet someone to talk to. The empowerment centre’s staff  listen, support, encourage and help you build self-confidence. You can also ask for a volunteer to go to the police station or the youth clinic with you. 

You can use our search engine on the right to find the contact details of empowerment centres which are members of SKR. You can search by county or town. You can also find details of young women’s empowerment centres which are not members of SKR. 

Tjejjouren.se
Tjejjouren.se is a national young women’s empowerment centre internet portal aimed at 12-20 year olds. The Tjejjouren.se website contains contact details of over 60 empowerment centres all over Sweden which you can contact if you want to talk, chat or ask questions. There is also a question box, where empowerment centres from around the country take it in turns to answer your questions. No question is too big or too small.