feminist management practice in a domestic violence service Alison Bartlett Dept Humanities & International Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba Rosemary Campbell Consultant Psychiatrist, Toowoomba Base Hospital Louise Whitaker Coordinator, Regional Access Strategy, Legal Aid Queensland Women Against Violence: Issue Fourteen July 2003 35 article abstract Domestic violence organisations have been drawing on feminist approaches to management for almost 30 years now, yet the processes of managing seem fraught and women come out of committees feeling traumatised and burnt out. While we talk about this between ourselves, very little is written about it for future committees to draw on. In this article, we draw on our professional domains of knowledge to reflect on our experiences as volunteer management committee members of a domestic violence service and try to articulate why such a motivated and visionary feminist practice might be so difficult to implement. In this article we critically reflect on the experience and theory of feminist management practice in relation to a domestic violence service. Women talk about the battering experience of working in domestic violence services but little is written about it. In parallel, little has been written recently about feminist management. This article helps break these silences. It describes the tension and hope in using a model (feminist management) which presumes trust and commitment to the whole, in an environment which emphasises power differentials, defence and survival of the individual (domestic violence service). While both of these factors derive from the ideals of feminist thinking, their inherent contradiction means a clash of cultures not uncommon in any workplace. The irony - and impetus for us to reflect on the experience - is that our initial vision and desire was to practise processes which would transform workplace culture from one of domination and submission to a partnership model, as described by Eisler (1995). In an environment where women’s services are under threat, it is difficult to talk about the challenges we face in such services in case future funding is seen to be further jeopardised. Gatenby and Humphries talk about the vulnerability of women when they breach such silences in conventional managerial contexts (1999:282), but breaking them in the context of managing women’s services feels like telling stories out of school - more like telling on each other. Telling stories has been a powerful feminist tool in disseminating knowledge, and the need to share experiences and knowledge is probably even more vital in times of m anaging violence?