Working on a structural level to prevent violence
against women:
Observations from a state-based, integrated
and joined up approach
Dr Deborah Western
Department Social Work Monash University
deborah.western@monash.edu
Presentation overview
 Explores structural reforms & activities in the
Victorian FV service system reform strategy
 Considers a whole-of-government, or an integrated
joined up approach, as a response to preventing
violence against women
 A preventing violence against women (PVAW)
focus
Why is this topic relevant to me?
 FV and preventing violence against women is a community issue;
everyone’s responsibility
 You have contact with/are likely to have contact with women who
have experienced/are experiencing FV
 It is crucial to understand the service system within which you work &
to consider:
 your role within the service system
 how you and your service can best respond to women
 how you and your service could work most effectively with other
services and/or agencies.
What is men’s violence against women?
 A major policy, human rights, crime and public health challenge
 Global stats indicate 1 in 3 women
 Indigenous women in Australia – 40% more likely
 Women with disabilities
 Refugee and immigrant women
 In this presentation refers to domestic/family violence, intimate partner
violence
What is the ‘structural level’?
 Broad-scale structures, systems, institutions that
shape/influence the way we live. Examples:
 Social
 Political
 Economic
 Legal
 Can be powerful
 Can be inequitable, discriminatory, oppressive, marginalising
What is structural reform?
 Change at that structural level
 Policy change
 Legislative reform
 Attitudinal change
 Why is it needed?
 Breaches human rights/women’s rights
 People’s needs are not being met
Why consider structural reform in relation to
Preventing VAW?
 It is a complex problem & requires sophisticated, collaborative
responses
 Contributing factors to VAW are located at the structural level
 Preventing violence against women requires a long-term approach
to change entrenched, ingrained and sometimes unacknowledged
attitudes & beliefs about women
 PVAW requires change at all levels – individual, family, community,
society, all government levels, organisations, culture
What is prevention?
 Primary: taking action to prevent VAW happening in the first place.
Example: respectful relationships programs in schools
 Secondary: activities that provide a response early after violence
has occurred with the aim of intervening early so as to prevent
further violence. Example: women’s support group
 Tertiary: responses that are provided after violence has occurred.
Examples: Men’s Behaviour Change programs; crisis and refuge
responses for women
 VicHealth 2007. Preventing violence before it occurs: A framework and background paper to guide the primary prevention
of violence against women in Victoria.
What is an integrated joined up approach
to government?
 “Working collaboratively across departments, portfolios or levels of
government to address complex issues which cross individual agency
boundaries” (State Services Authority 2007: vii. Victorian approaches to joined up government: an overview. S. S. Authority.
Melbourne, State Government Victoria).
 Enables:
 Coordination
 Multi-level
 Multi-agency
What is an integrated joined up approach to
government?
 Potential Limitations:
 Partnerships and partnering
 Requires trust & openness
 Value conflict
 Establishing a common philosophy; goals
 Resistance to change
 Complexity of arrangements
 Resourcing
 Who is accountable? Leadership & governance
An integrated joined up whole-of government
approach to family violence in Victoria
2005
Reform needed
Fragmented
Uncoordinated
High demand on
services
Focus on family
violence response
Structural reform & a joined up approach: The
Integrated FV Reform Strategy
 Long-term approach
 All stakeholders working together to achieve service
integration that results in:
 increased safety of those who experience family
violence
 Increased accountability of those who use
violence.
The Integrated FV Reform Strategy: Aims
 Reduce deaths, injuries and the emotional impact of FV
 Respond more effectively to all women & children experiencing FV
 Strengthen the response of the police and the courts to FV
 Increase the accountability of and access to behaviour change programs for
men who use violence
 Emphasise the rights, needs and safety of children
 Provide greater support to all workers who deal with victims of FV
 Bring FV into the open and give all members of the community the
confidence to speak out
Structural reform & a joined up approach:
The Integrated FV Reform Strategy
Police
People
Courts & justice system
Government
Committees &
representative
bodies
Research
Indigenous
Child Protection
Policy &
legislative change
Organisations
inclu FV; family
services
People
 2001- 2009
 Chief Commissioner
Christine Nixon
 First woman commissioner
 Focus on violence against
women for Victoria Police
 CC Ken Lay 2011-2015
Committees & representative bodies
 State-wide Steering Committee to develop an integrated service
system for FV
 18 regional and subregional integrated family violence committees
throughout Victoria to improve coordination of service delivery
 Regional Integration Coordinators
 Interdepartmental Committee
 Five Ministers: Women’s Affairs and Early Childhood Development;
Attorney-General; Community Services; Police and Emergency
Services; Aboriginal Affairs, Housing and Local Government
Courts & justice system
 Specialist FV courts
 Family Violence Protection Act 2008
 Victoria Police Code of Practice for the Investigation of FV
Policy & strategy
 Women’s Safety Strategy
 Indigenous family violence 10 year plan: Strong Culture, Strong
Peoples, Strong Families.
 http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/620202/Final_10_Year_Plan_Oct08_2nd_Edition.pdf
 The prevention agenda was documented and launched as a tenyear plan called A Right to Respect (Office of Women's Policy
2009). http://www.daru.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a-right-to-respect-victorias-plan-to-preventviolence-against-women-2010-2020.pdf
 Victoria’s Action Plan to Address Violence against Women &
Children 2012-2015: Everyone has a responsibility to act.
http://awava.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/VIC-Action-Plan-To-Address-Violence-against-WomenChildren.pdf
Research
 The Health Costs of Violence: Measuring the burden of disease caused
by intimate partner violence (VicHealth 2004).
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/vwhp/downloads/vichealth_violence%20_%20summary.pdf
 Preventing Violence Before It Occurs -– A framework and background
paper to guide the primary prevention of violence against women in
Victoria (VicHealth 2007)
 a conceptual framework that could be used to develop policy
 addresses the underlying causes or determinants of violence against women –
gender inequality, gender stereotyping
 suggests change at different levels & in five key settings: education and
training; local government, health and community services; workplaces; sport
and recreation; media, arts and popular culture.
 http://www.dvvic.org.au/attachments/2007_vichealth_pvaw.framework.pdf
Practice resources & guidelines
 Code of Practice for Specialist FV Services – Domestic
Violence Victoria
 Practice Standards for Family Violence Counselling
and Support Programs for Women and Children
 Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework
(Common Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF)
Common Risk Assessment Framework
(CRAF)
 Guidelines and information about risk assessment & risk
management
 Identifying FV
 Responding – referral, consultation, information sharing
 Assumption: if all organisations working with women and
their children experiencing family violence worked from a
common risk assessment and risk management
framework, all women would receive a sound,
coordinated and consistent response no matter where
they entered the service system.
Common Risk Assessment Framework
 A shared understanding of risk and family violence across all
service providers
 A standardised approach to recognising and assessing risk
 Appropriate referral pathways and information sharing
 Risk management strategies that include ongoing assessment
and case management
 LINKS:
 http://www.dvrcv.org.au/training/family-violence-risk-assessment-craf
 http://www.thelookout.org.au/training-events/craf/elearning
Reference
 Western, D & Mason, R 2013, ‘Gender-based violence in
Australia: A State-based joined-up approach’, in K Nakray,
Gender-based Violence and Public Health: International
perspectives on budgets and policies, Routledge, Milton Park