16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence

Evidence is crucial if we are to design effective policy and practice to prevent and respond to violence against women (VAW) and their children. ANROWS is Australia’s only national research organisation dedicated to producing this kind of evidence.

We guide evidence production by setting Australia’s National Research Agenda to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (ANRA). This is a framework of priority research areas for academics, researchers, governments and funding bodies to coordinate our efforts to prevent and reduce VAW. Implementation of ANRA is supported through the ANROWS Register of Active Research (RAR), which aims to provide a comprehensive landscape of VAW research currently in progress in Australia.

During this year’s global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign, we have focused on providing you with at least one practical resource every day: a total of 16 evidence-based resources to support your work in designing policy and practice to respond to and prevent violence against women and their children.

Follow us using #16days on Twitter or LinkedIn  to view our 16 Days of evidence-based resources, and access the UN’s campaign resources here.

VAW AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY

This Notepad reaches you halfway through the 16 Days, on International Day of People with Disability.

It is estimated that women with disability experience partner violence at rates higher than the wider population of women. Our project “Women, disability and violence: Creating access to justice” showed that violence can look different, even invisible, for women with disability. Women with disability also face compounded and specific barriers when seeking support.

Today’s 16 Days resource points to proven and promising practice in violence prevention for families with a child or parent with disability. This evidence shows that for mothers, safety means access to resources, support and community networks.

This project formed part of the broader ANROWS 2016–2020 research program focusing on systems and services, experiences for diverse women, and perpetrator interventions. Its findings echo a key consistent message throughout the suite of research: the impact of intergenerational trauma, and the importance of early intervention and work with children.

NEW PROJECT

International study of responses to domestic violence during COVID-19

ANROWS will collaborate with international researchers on a new study examining global responses to domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Domestic Abuse: Harnessing Learning internationally under COVID-19” (DAHLIA-19) is being funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council and led by Professor Nicky Stanley and colleagues at the University of Central Lancashire.

The study will examine policy and practice responses in four countries: the UK, Australia, Ireland and South Africa, and brings together researchers at the University of Edinburgh, University of Melbourne, ANROWS, Trinity College Dublin and the University of the Witwatersrand in collaboration with domestic violence organisations and policy actors in all four countries.

The study will collect and compare different initiatives and policies for all family members living with domestic violence and abuse during the pandemic.

Briefings and feedback for providers and policy makers will be available throughout the 14-month study, and a final report will be available by January 2022.

REFLECTING ON THE YEAR

Annual Report & AGM

Last Monday 30 November saw reflections on a successful 2019–2020 year at ANROWS in our Annual General Meeting and the release of our 2019–2020 Annual Report.

Throughout a tumultuous year, ANROWS has continued to provide a much-needed evidence base for policymakers, practitioners and researchers to support the safety of women and children.

We are very proud of the organisation’s achievements over these 12 months. Some highlights from the year include the impact of ANROWS research on policy and practice to reduce violence against women and their children.

Findings from the “Transforming legal understandings of intimate partner violence” report informed amendments to the Western Australian Evidence Act 1906 via the Family Violence Legislation Reform Act 2020 (WA) and contributed to the release of an imprisoned Aboriginal woman who had killed her abusive partner.

Drawing on findings from the “Domestic violence, social security and the couple rule” research, ANROWS and Economic Justice Australia worked with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to develop a tailored training module on the impact of DFV for AAT decision-makers. This will inform decisions impacting women whose Centrelink entitlements are negatively affected by the “couple rule”.  This important outcome is the result of strong relationships with allies and key end users of the research.

ANROWS also assisted the Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia with the development of a family violence training e-learning package for Family Consultants. The training was rolled out late last year to very positive feedback, and is now being expanded to include registrars and associates. The National risk assessment principles for family and domestic violence, and other ANROWS evidence, feature prominently in the training.

We also delivered two major streams of research and initiated a new program of research under the Fourth Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022, finalised 21 research projects and published 68 reports and associated resources.

Access the Annual Report to find out more about who we are, our mission and strategic goals, our work and our governance.

New research articles

You can access the resources in this list and all the other articles in Notepad in the ANROWS Library.

Chirwa, E., Jewkes, R., Van Der Heijden, I., & Dunkle, K. (2020). Intimate partner violence among women with and without disabilities: a pooled analysis of baseline data from seven violence-prevention programmes. BMJ Global Health, 5(11), e002156.

Dagistanli, S., Umutoni Wa Shema, N., Townley, C., Robinson, K. H., Bansel, P., Huppatz, K. E., . . . Bizimana, L. (2020). Understandings and Responses to Domestic Violence in the African Great Lakes Communities of Western Sydney.

Du Mont, J., Hemalal, S., Kosa, S. D., Cameron, L., & Macdonald, S. (2020). The promise of an intersectoral network in enhancing the response to transgender survivors of sexual assault. PLOS ONE, 15(11), e0241563.

Mason, G. (2020). Sexual assault law and community education: A case study of New South Wales, Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues.

McCartan, K., & Kemshall, H. (2020). The Potential Role of Recovery Capital in Stopping Sexual Offending: Lessons from Circles of Support and Accountability to Enrich Practice. Irish Probation Journal, 17.

Meiksans, J., McDougall, S., Arney, F., Flaherty, R., Chong, A., Ward, F., & Taylor, C. (2020). The Nature of Domestic and Family Violence Reported to Child Protection Prenatally. Children and Youth Services Review.

Rowse, J., Bolt, C. & Gaya, S. Swipe right: the emergence of dating-app facilitated sexual assault. A descriptive retrospective audit of forensic examination caseload in an Australian metropolitan service. Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology 16, 71–77 (2020).

Tidmarsh, P., & Hamilton, G. (2020). Misconceptions of sexual crimes against adult victims: Barriers to justice. Trends & Issues in crime and criminal justice, No. 611.

Wong, J. S., & Bouchard, J. (2020). Examining Changes in Abusive Attitudes and Behaviors of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators through a Community-based Prevention Program. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 1-21.