State of knowledge

Advocacy for safety and empowerment:
State of knowledge

This paper analyses critical, policy, service and research literature on responses to Aboriginal women experiencing family and domestic violence in Australia; focusing on non-legal and non-clinical services and women’s specialist services in regional and remote settings.

It considers:

• critical writing, analysis and representation by Aboriginal women on family and domestic violence;
• literature on the evolution of responses to Aboriginal women experiencing family and domestic violence; and
• participatory research methods and how they can further open the ground for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women to debate ways of challenging violence and enable Aboriginal women to live violence-free.

As a critical review, the paper highlights problems in using ideas of “effectiveness” and “success” to drive objectives in service delivery; and seeks to re-centre aspirations for empowerment alongside those for safety.

 

 

Publication details

This work is part of the ANROWS Landscapes series. ANROWS Landscapes (State of knowledge papers) are medium length papers that scope current knowledge on an issue related to violence against women and their children. Papers will draw on empirical research, including research produced under ANROWS’s research program, and/or practice knowledge.

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Authors

DR ROBYN HOLDER
Research Fellow, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University.

DR JUDY PUTT
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England.

MS CATH O’LEARY
Research Consultant, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England.

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ISBN: 978-1-925372-08-3 (print) 978-1-925372-09-0 (online)

41 pp.

Suggested citation

Holder, R., Putt, J., & O;Leary, C. (2015). Advocacy for safety and empowerment: State of knowledge paper (ANROWS Landscapes, 09/2015). Sydney, NSW: ANROWS.