ANROWS Notepad 17 October 2019 - ANROWS - Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety

NOTEPAD

Domestic homicide is a
gendered crime: the data are clear

ANROWS Notepad | 17 October 2019

Domestic homicide is a gendered crime: the data are clear

ANROWS has released a new factsheet: Domestic & Family Violence Lethality: The facts about intimate partner homicide.

The fact sheet presents the key data from a ground-breaking 2018 report from the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network. The report analyses the histories of domestic violence preceding intimate partner homicides, systematically assessing the context of each homicide and offering recommendations for preventative measures.

The data show clearly that domestic homicide is gendered. Of the 152 cases of intimate partner homicide in Australia between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2014, the majority involved a man killing his female partner, in a context of a history of domestic violence. In most cases where the homicide victim was a man, he was killed by a female partner that he had been abusing.

State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan emphasised the fact that in many cases, there was no known history of physical violence before the homicide. At the fact sheet launch on Thursday 10 October, she pointed to coercive control as a far stronger predictor of fatal violence.

“What the data show us is that where domestic violence is present, death is a risk.”

In a panel discussion about the data, State Coroner O’Sullivan spoke with Heidi Ehrat from the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network; lawyer, artist and advocate Amani Haydar; and Christine Robinson, a Bundjalung woman from Northern NSW and the Coordinator at Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre.

The panel discussed barriers to change, including those experienced by Aboriginal and Muslim women and men.

ANROWS CEO, Dr Heather Nancarrow, said “This factsheet shows us that it is women who are ultimately bearing the burden of intimate partner violence. The deaths we hear about every week are preventable.”

DOWNLOAD THE FACTSHEET

16 Days of Activism: From awareness to accountability

This year’s 16 days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign focuses on ending gender-based violence in the world of work: “Violence is not part of the job.”

The 16 Days of Activism campaign runs every year from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November, to Human Rights Day on 10 December.

This year’s campaign advocates for international laws on women’s safety in the workplace.

Improving accountability for men who use violence in the workplace starts with rigorous evidence on successful perpetrator interventions. See our research update below to find out about the new evidence ANROWS is producing.

Workplaces also have the power to support women workers by creating fair policies for those who have experienced violence. Our Summary of the Evidence: Paid domestic and family violence (DFV) leave outlines how paid DFV leave is important for reducing the adverse financial impacts on women who are ending violent relationships. More resources on this research have been developed based on the Building effective policies and services to promote women’s economic security following domestic and family violence project.

ANROWS Research Update

Perpetrator interventions projects

Perpetrator interventions research and practice is a rapidly emerging and growing area, with a broad scope for contributing to change. ANROWS is working to ensure that evidence shapes this growing field by providing knowledge translation and exchange materials and activities to support evidence-informed policy and practice.

Further research from the ANROWS perpetrator interventions stream will soon be published. This practically oriented research investigates specific interventions, and the publications will contribute to a clearer picture of effective practice in the area.

Watch out for upcoming releases from the following three projects:

Engaging men: Invitational-narrative approaches (Led by Dr Sarah Wendt, Flinders University): Research report to be published 22 October 2019. A symposium to discuss the key findings of the report, with Dr Wendt and her team, will be held in Adelaide on 11 November (see below for details).

The PIPA project: Positive Interventions for Perpetrators of Adolescent violence in the home (Led by Ms Elena Campbell, RMIT University)

Evaluating community-based approaches to sexual offender reintegration (Led by Dr Kelly Richards, Queensland University of Technology)

This research stream is important to understand how men can use coercive behaviour as a tool that leads to serious violence. We know controlling and coercive behaviours underpin the vast majority of domestic assaults and homicides: in understanding coercive and controlling behaviour we are working towards keeping women safe.

Symposium

How do we engage men who use violence?

Join ANROWS, Flinders University and Uniting Communities in Adelaide for a symposium on Engaging men who use violence.

The discussion will explore the policy and practice implications of an upcoming ANROWS research report on Engaging men who use violence: Invitational narrative approaches by Sarah Wendt, Kate Seymour, Fiona Buchanan, Chris Dolman and Natalie Greenland, to be published on 22 October.

This report is based on qualitative research that explored how invitational narrative ways of working can successfully engage men who use violence and enable behavioural and attitudinal change.

Who should attend?

Men’s behaviour change program facilitators
Counsellors and community support workers who work with men
Correctives services workers
Domestic and family violence workers
Aboriginal practitioners
Policymakers in domestic and family violence, corrective services and health.

Discussion

Should we decriminalise domestic violence?

What does it mean that our primary response to domestic and family violence is a legal one?

And why do we use the criminal system to solve this hugely complex problem, when it could be better understood as an issue for our economy, public health system, communities and human rights?

ANROWS is holding a special event in Brisbane to discuss these questions in depth. Join us at the Queensland Supreme and High Courts, where the ABC’s Paul Barclay will be interviewing internationally respected academic Professor Leigh Goodmark about overturning our approach and creating a real roadmap for reform.

In Conversation with Leigh Goodmark is on 4 December 2019 in Brisbane. Register now to secure a place.

ANROWS Conference

Plan your trip to Adelaide

When: 28–30 April 2020
Where: Hilton Adelaide, 233 Victoria Square, Adelaide

Plan your April trip to Adelaide for the 2020 ANROWS Conference! Registration is opening soon.

Come and explore how practitioners, policy-makers and researchers are using the evidence to understand, respond to and prevent violence against women and their children.

The theme of the conference is Evidence in Action. Together we’ll be asking “what works?”, exploring:

Who does it work for?
In what circumstances does it work?
How do we know it is effective?

Professor Nadine Wathen, Canada Research Chair in Mobilizing Knowledge on Gender-Based Violence, will deliver a keynote address asking these questions and drawing on her deep expertise in evaluation and knowledge translation and exchange. Stay tuned to hear more about our keynote speakers.

Now is also the time to submit your session proposal. Don’t wait—there are only 18 days until submissions close!

ANROWS CONFERENCE

Research community attitudes to Violence against Women

ANROWS is hiring

Come and work with us! ANROWS is seeking a Senior Research Officer with expertise in quantitative social research to assist the Director, Research Program (NCAS) in delivering the 2021 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS).

The Senior Research Officer will undertake a range of research and project management tasks for the survey, including contributing to the design, conduct, analysis and write-up of the survey; collaborating and managing relationships with the research team, project partners and advisory/expert panel members; supporting stakeholder engagement in the NCAS; and assisting with knowledge translation and communication of the findings.

This is a full-time position, contracted from the start date to 30 June 2022. Applications close at midnight on Wednesday 30 October 2019.

APPLY

New research & resources

Research

Borges Jelinic, A. (2019). I loved him and he scared me: Migrant women, partner visas and domestic violence. Emotion, Space and Society, 32, 100582.

Cullen, P., Vaughan, G., Li, Z., Price, J., Yu, D., & Sullivan, E. (2019). Counting Dead Women in Australia: An In-Depth Case Review of Femicide. Journal of Family Violence, 34(1), 1–8.

Duerksen, K. N., & Woodin, E. M. (2019). Technological intimate partner violence: Exploring technology-related perpetration factors and overlap with in-person intimate partner violence. Computers in Human Behavior, 98, 223–231.

Fedina, L., Backes, B., Jun, H., DeVylder, J., & Barth, R. (2019). Police legitimacy, trustworthiness, and associations with intimate partner violence. Policing: An International Journal, (Advance online publication).

Ghafournia, N., & Easteal, P. (2019). Help-Seeking Experiences of Immigrant Domestic Violence Survivors in Australia: A Snapshot of Muslim Survivors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. (Advance online publication.)

Hegarty, K., Tarzia, L., Valpied, J., Murray, E., Humphreys, C., Taft, A., … Glass, N. (2019). An online healthy relationship tool and safety decision aid for women experiencing intimate partner violence (I-DECIDE): A randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Public Health, 4(6), e301–e310.

Hulme, S., Morgan, A., & Boxall, H. (2019). Domestic violence offenders, prior offending and reoffending in Australia (No. 580 September 2019).

Mackenzie, C., Mackay, T. (2019) ‘I just wanted to keep my boyfriend happy’: Young country women’s perceptions of intimate partner violence. The Australian Alliance for Social Enterprise. University of South Australia. Adelaide

Messinger, A. M., Dyar, C., Birmingham, R. S., Newcomb, M. E., & Whitton, S. W. (2019). Sexual and gender minority intimate partner violence and childhood violence exposure. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, (Advance online publication).

Ruane-McAteer, E., Amin, A., Hanratty, J., Lynn, F., Corbijn van Willenswaard, K., Reid, E., … Lohan, M. (2019). Interventions addressing men, masculinities and gender equality in sexual and reproductive health and rights: An evidence and gap map and systematic review of reviews. BMJ Global Health, 4(5), 1–15.

Thomas, K. A., Mederos, F., & Rodriguez, G. (2019). ‘It shakes you for the rest of your life’: Low-income fathers’ understanding of domestic violence and its impact on children. Psychology of Violence, 9(5), 564–573.

Wendt, S., Natalier, K., Seymour, K., King, D., & Macaitis, K. (2019). Strengthening the Domestic and Family Violence Workforce: Key Questions. Australian Social Work. Advance online publication.

Zark, L., Hammond, S. M., Williams, A., & Pilgrim, J. L. (2019). Family violence in Victoria, Australia: A retrospective case-control study of forensic medical casework. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 133(5), 1537–1547.