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Our Watch Limited GPO Box 24229 Melbourne VIC 3001 P. 03 8692 9500 | E. enquiries@Our Watch.org.au | Our Watch.org.au
6 March 2015
Robyn Schutte
Secretary, Social Development Committee
South Australian Parliament
PO Box 572, Adelaide SA 5001
Dear Ms Schutte,
Thank you for your invitation to Our Watch to provide a submission to the Social Development
Committee’s inquiry into domestic and family violence in South Australia.
As you know, Our Watch is an independent, not for profit organisation with four members – the
Commonwealth, Victorian, South Australian and Northern Territory Governments. All States and
Territories have been invited to join as members.
Our Watch works to raise awareness and engage the community to challenge attitudes,
institutional practices and social norms that condone or excuse violence against women and their
children, and to promote respectful and egalitarian behaviours and values.
Our Watch congratulates the South Australian parliament for initiating this inquiry, and its
determination to take a lead role in improving responses to, and prevention of, domestic and
family violence.
This intent aligns strongly with Our Watch’s mandate and we look forward to working with the
South Australian Government in the years to come to prevent violence against women and their
children in South Australia.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Linossier
Chief Executive Officer
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Contents
Contact ............................................................................................................................................ 3
About Our Watch and this submission ........................................................................................... 4
Issue area 2: The effectiveness of current initiatives in supporting the prevention of domestic
and family violence ......................................................................................................................... 5
Understanding the drivers of domestic and family violence ...................................................... 5
Addressing the drivers of domestic and family violence ............................................................ 7
Designing effective prevention initiatives and policy approaches .............................................. 7
Issue area 4: How workplaces and industry can further support the prevention of domestic and
family violence ................................................................................................................................ 8
The role of workplaces and industry in preventing domestic and family violence..................... 8
Research on bystander behaviour and its implications for workplaces ..................................... 9
Existing prevention work (and gaps) in the workplace setting ................................................. 10
Recommendations ........................................................................................................................ 11
1. Support workplaces, industry and other organisational settings to drive social,
institutional and practice change through their core work ...................................................... 11
2. Develop a skilled workforce to embed social, cultural, behavioural and practice change in
different sectors and settings ................................................................................................... 12
3. Promote gender equality through political, economic and social measures ................... 12
4. Tailor prevention programming to different groups and contexts .................................. 13
5. Contribute to a collective and evidence-based approach to creating social, cultural and
behavioural change across jurisdictions and sectors ................................................................ 14
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OUR WATCH
SUBMISSION TO THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE OF THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT:
INQUIRY INTO DOMESTIC AND FAMILY VIOLENCE
Contact
Dr Lara Fergus
Director, Policy and Evaluation
P. 03 8692 9500
GPO Box 24229
Melbourne VIC 300
ourwatch.org.au
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About Our Watch and this submission
Our Watch is an independent, not for profit organisation with four members: the Commonwealth,
Victorian, South Australian and Northern Territory Governments.1 Our vision is shared with the
National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022 (the National
Plan), namely an Australian community free from violence against women and their children.
The specific mandate of Our Watch is to focus on the prevention of violence against women and
their children. We aim to provide leadership at national, state, regional and local levels to drive
changes in the attitudes, behaviours, social norms and institutional structures and practices that
underpin or support such violence.
In line with this mandate and our expertise in the area of prevention, this submission therefore
focuses principally on the second and fourth issue areas outlined in the Inquiry’s terms of
reference, namely:
Issue area 2:
the effectiveness of current initiatives in supporting the prevention of domestic and family violence; and
Issue area 4: how workplaces and industry can further support the prevention of domestic and family
violence
As an organisation focused on prevention, we defer to the submissions of other organisations with
greater expertise and experience in service, police and justice responses to domestic violence in
South Australia on the first, third and fifth issues listed in the terms of reference. We urge the
Social Development Committee to recognise the importance of fully realizing and funding both
prevention and response strategies, rather than viewing these to be in competition. Effective
responses to violence are a fundamental ‘building block’ for prevention. They send a message –
not only to perpetrators, but to society more broadly – that violence is not acceptable, establish
the notion of perpetrator accountability, and protect women and their children from further
violence. Effective prevention strategies on the other hand ultimately aim to create environments
and structures where violence is less likely to occur in the first place, thereby easing pressure on
the existing response system.
1 Established as the Foundation to Prevent Violence against Women and their Children in July 2013, Our Watch has invited all States and Territories to join as members.
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Issue area 2: The effectiveness of current initiatives in supporting the prevention of domestic and family violence
Establishing a clear, evidence-informed and theoretically sound understanding of domestic and
family violence is critical in order to assess how effective current initiatives are in addressing it. A
coherent framing of the issue enables us to assess existing initiatives on the basis of their impact
(or likely impact) on the identified underlying causes, drivers and contributors to violence.
Understanding the drivers of domestic and family violence
All major international and Australian studies on factors contributing to domestic and family
violence have emphasised the need to consider a complex interplay of personal, situational and
sociocultural factors.2 Put simply, individual life histories and contexts – such as childhood
experiences of violence or alcohol abuse – may play a role in perpetration of violence. But these
factors only come into play when coupled with a belief on the perpetrator’s part that he
(perpetrators are mostly men) has a right to use violence.
Our key question therefore needs to be: where does this belief come from? Research by
international institutions such as the World Health Organisation and European Commission, as
well as Australian bodies such as the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) and our
own population surveys, have all concluded that permission or justification for violence is learned
and reinforced through social, organisational and/or familial environments. For example:
Levels of domestic violence across the whole population are measurably higher in
societies where laws, institutions and cultural beliefs promote or support stereotypical or
rigid roles for men and women, and where women have less access to power and
resources than men.3
2 Heise, L (1998) Violence against Women: An Integrated Ecological Framework 3 World Health Organisation (2010) Preventing Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence: Taking Action and Generating Evidence; European Commission (2010) Factors at play in the perpetration of violence against women, violence against children and sexual orientation violence: A multi-level interactive model
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Individuals (men and women) who do not believe men and women are equal, and/or see
them as having specific roles or characteristics, are more likely to condone, tolerate or
excuse domestic violence.4
Within intimate relationships, male dominance and control of wealth is a significant
predictor of higher levels of violence.5
At the individual level, the most consistent predictor for support of violence by men is
their agreement with sexist, patriarchal and/or sexually hostile attitudes.6
These findings reflect what can already be observed in the prevalence and impact research noted
above, as well as in police and hospital data – that patterns of violence perpetration are clearly
gendered.
The unequivocal conclusion drawn across studies is that gender inequality in public and private life
is the leading driver of violence against women and their children. Four dimensions of gender
inequality are found to be particularly significant, namely:
Stereotyped roles of men and women
Rigid gender identities (masculinity/femininity)
An unequal distribution of power, and unequal relationships, between men and women
Negative peer relationships and associations between men
These dimensions are mutually reinforcing, play out in both public and private life, and operate at
individual, organizational, community, institutional and societal levels.
The literature therefore strongly suggests that while addressing gender inequality may sit
uncomfortably with some audiences – and meet with resistance – it is as essential to the
prevention of violence as addressing smoking is to the prevention of lung cancer.
4 World Health Organisation (2010) op cit 3, European Commission (2010) op cit 3, plus Commonwealth of Australia and VicHealth (2009) National Survey on Community Attitudes to Violence against Women 2009: Changing Cultures, Changing Attitudes – Preventing Violence against Women: A Summary of Findings 5 Ibid, plus Partners for Prevention (2013) Why Do Some Men Use Violence against Women and How Can We Prevent It? Quantitative Findings from the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific 6 Commonwealth of Australia and VicHealth (2009) op cit 7, European Commission (2010) op cit 4.
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Addressing the drivers of domestic and family violence
Prevention7 work aims to reduce or prevent new instances of violence across whole populations
before they occur, by addressing underlying drivers and promoting positive shifts in attitudes,
behaviours, and practices.8 Examples include schools-based programs building students’
relationships skills, social marketing campaigns addressing gender stereotypes, or workplace
initiatives promoting gender equity and building skills in bystander responses to
sexist/discriminatory behaviour – to name a few. Such approaches are distinct from both
immediate and longer-term responses to existing violence (e.g. crisis counselling, police protection
or men’s behaviour change programs) – as well as from early intervention activities (such as those
working with ‘at risk’ young people or families).9
These distinctions are important. The idea of ‘prevention’ has frequently been conflated with early
intervention or even response in policy, research and practice approaches to violence against
women and their children – in Australia and internationally. The result is that transformational
efforts to stop violence before it occurs can be overlooked or omitted.
Designing effective prevention initiatives and policy approaches
Well-evaluated examples of prevention activity currently exist across Australia, particularly in
certain settings, such as education, workplaces and sports. However limited shared
understandings of what constitutes effective prevention continues to constrain the development
of good practice. More activity exists than is evaluated or fully documented, which presents
challenges for improvement and upscaling, with a particular dearth of evidence-based practice on
working with different population groups.
Most importantly, the social, cultural and behavioural change required to prevent violence against
women and their children cannot be achieved ‘project by project’. Activities need to be embedded
into the core business of different sectors, and coordinated across numerous settings and
jurisdictions in a coherent way.
7 Often termed ‘primary prevention’ in public health discourse. 8 UN Women in cooperation with ESCAP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO (2012) Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls, Bangkok, Thailand, 17-20 September 2012, EGM/PP/2012/Report, paragraph 17. 9 Often termed ‘secondary’ or ‘tertiary’ prevention in public health discourse.
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For this to happen, governments at all levels have a role to play. However, the role of
State/Territory governments is particularly strong as they carry the bulk of jurisdictional
responsibility across key sectors for prevention. In South Australia, ministerial portfolios and
government departments across areas such as Communities and Social Inclusion, Education and
Child Development, State Development, and Health and Aging, are all critical to a comprehensive
approach to violence prevention – through system and policy development as much as program
design and delivery. Such initiatives might include the support and promotion of respectful
relationships education in schools, positive and equal parenting programs, or workplace and skills-
building programs that advance gender equality. Effort must be undertaken on a whole of
government basis built on a shared understanding of the purpose of prevention, and sharing joint
responsibility and accountability for delivering government commitments.
The South Australian Government can also support regional structures and local governments
state-wide to drive social, cultural and behavioural change to prevent violence through their own
programs and services, such as promoting participation of women and girls in local sporting clubs,
or supporting community-driven prevention activity.
Issue area 4: How workplaces and industry can further support the prevention of domestic and family violence
The role of workplaces and industry in preventing domestic and family violence
Domestic and family violence has indirect impacts on workplaces and industry, most concretely as
a driver of absenteeism, ill-health and reduced productivity.10 However, workplaces are also
environments in which the social norms, practices and power differentials contributing to such
violence are shaped and can be changed. For example, sexual harassment and/or discrimination
within workplaces creates and condones a culture in which women are treated as lesser than men
– in turn driving social norms and power imbalances supportive of violence against women.
Workplaces are also particularly important in reaching women who may be isolated from other
10 Studies have estimated that the economic costs to the Australian business and corporate sector of family violence make up $1.5 billion per annum in staff absenteeism, lost productivity, replacement staff (including training) costs, and misused workplace resources, for instance Henderson M (2000) Impacts and Costs of Domestic Violence on the Australian/Corporate Sector, Report to Lord Mayor’s Women’s Advisory Committee, Brisbane City Council.
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systems of support (such as newly arrived immigrant/refugee women), which in itself can be a risk
factor for family and domestic violence.
Because prevention of domestic and family violence is largely about addressing unequal power
between women and men and the discrimination that results from rigidly held gender
stereotypes, strategies in the workplace setting overlap greatly with broader initiatives promoting
workplace gender equality. As such, any programs, research, advocacy or guidelines for the
promotion of structural gender equality in the workplace (e.g. around pay levels and decision-
making power) are important components of violence prevention.11
However violence prevention also requires an extra effort to directly address the specific cultural
or ‘normative’ drivers of domestic and family violence – especially attitudes around the roles of
men and women in relationships and child-rearing, those supporting male dominance and female
passivity, and other gender stereotypes. Such norms – whether expressed through structures,
practices, attitudes or behaviour – create social and professional barriers that may stop people
from taking action when faced not only with disclosures of violence, but with sexism,
discrimination and other violence-supportive behaviours or practices.
Research on bystander behaviour and its implications for workplaces
A large-scale phone survey conducted across Victoria in 2011 revealed important findings on what
encourages ‘pro-social bystander action’ in the face of sexist or discriminatory attitudes,
behaviours and practices – in both organisational and social settings. ‘Pro-social bystander action’
refers to a range of actions such as ‘confronting a friend or colleague who continually makes sexist
jokes; talking to your manager if women are being treated unfairly in the workplace; or
challenging spectators or players who use sexist sledging on the sports field’.12
The likelihood of a person taking action under such circumstances was found to be influenced by
that person’s:
level of confidence in their capacity to act,
belief that their action will have a positive impact on the situation,
belief that they will have the support of their friends, peers or colleagues,
level of support for gender equality, and
11 See the Commonwealth Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency website for a comprehensive collection of this work: http://www.wgea.gov.au/ 12 VicHealth (2012) More than Ready: Bystander Action to Prevent Violence against Women in the Victorian Community.
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awareness of policies and procedures relating to respectful relationships, gender equality
and/or sexual harassment in their workplace or organisation.13
Further, people were most likely to take bystander action when:
they perceived the behaviour as serious, and
they believed they will have strong support for such action from their peers and colleagues,
community or organisation.14
The research concluded that while many people in communities and organisations may recognise
unacceptable behaviour towards women, they were often hesitant to act on or respond to such
behaviour, especially in situations where they felt they would not have support.15 The role of
organisations such as workplaces in providing such support was highlighted as creating the
context in which individual attitudes and behaviours contributing to discrimination and violence
were more likely to be challenged by peers and colleagues.
Existing prevention work (and gaps) in the workplace setting
Recent years have seen the development of guidelines that support workplace-based prevention
of violence, discrimination and harassment, and the promotion of gender equality. For example,
the Workplace Gender Equality Agency provides advice, practical tools and education to support
employers create more gender equitable workplaces. The Australian Human Rights Commission’s
2013 Women in Male-Dominated Industries: A Toolkit of Strategies, advocates for shifting
organisational culture ‘to embrace diversity and flexibility,’ through development of an integrated
gender diversity strategy including pay equity.16
Programs engaging employers in either individual or collective efforts to prevent or respond to
family and domestic violence have also been developed. Some of these have worked to shift
organisational practices and cultures to prevent violence by promoting women’s representation,
participation and opportunities, and eliminating discrimination and violence-supportive
attitudes.17
13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 The Australian Human Rights Commission (2013) Women in Male-Dominated Industries: A Toolkit of Strategies, p.6 17 For example, the Queensland-based project, Australia’s CEO Challenge; the Safe at Home, Safe at Work? project funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations; the White Ribbon Workplaces Can Make a Difference project; and the YMCA’s Y Respect Gender project.
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A key gap in workplace-based prevention is in initiatives or frameworks for informal workplaces
and/or small businesses. A recent evidence review found: ‘policies and programs […] are less likely
to be effective within an informal workplace culture,’ meaning alternative mechanisms may need
to be found to shift attitudes and norms condoning violence or gender inequity in such contexts.
The review also noted different workplaces may be suited to different strategies, especially when
considering gender mix (i.e. male dominated workplaces might present different challenges to
female-dominated or more equally mixed workplaces), and the ‘differential effects of violence in
workplace settings according to some women’s experience of multiple forms of social
marginalisation’ (e.g. workplaces employing large numbers of women from non-English speaking
and/or newly arrived communities may need to ensure strategies overcome language barriers and
potential limited knowledge of Australian law and workplace rights/entitlements).18
Recommendations
1. Support workplaces, industry and other organisational settings to drive social, institutional and practice change through their core work
Effective responses to sexism, harassment, discrimination and violence should be the norm in
workplaces and other organisations of all sorts across South Australia, with positive measures in
place to promote gender equality and respectful organisational cultures. The South Australian
Government should support efforts to increase women’s participation and representation in
decision-making positions across private, public and not for profit workplaces and other
organisations. Tools and technical assistance should be available to businesses, public institutions,
sporting and other organisations to promote gender equality and empower bystanders to act on
sexism and discrimination.
Schools are workplaces too, and indeed ‘mini communities’ where non-violent, equitable and
productive environments and interpersonal relationships can be modelled and normalised. All
South Australian students should be learning to build respectful relationships in school cultures
that promote gender equality and non-violence, from Foundation to Year 12. The South Australian
Government should investigate ways to better support schools, teachers, youth workers and
education stakeholders to deliver good practice whole-school approaches to respectful
18 Chung D, Zufferey C and Powell A (2012) Preventing violence against women in the workplace: An evidence review.
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relationships education. Similar work in non-school and adult education settings (e.g. parenting
programs) should also be developed, implemented and evaluated.
2. Develop a skilled workforce to embed social, cultural, behavioural and practice change in different sectors and settings
If organisations – such as workplaces, industrial bodies or schools – are to effectively embed the
social, cultural and behavioural change needed to prevent violence against women and their
children, skilled ‘implementers’ are needed across sectors. The South Australian Government
should support development of accredited training programs for prevention of violence and the
promotion of gender equality, complemented by access to technical assistance for program
design, implementation and evaluation. Support for networks, forums for information sharing, and
communities of practice have also been demonstrated as essential to the integration of
prevention efforts into mainstream settings.19
3. Promote gender equality through political, economic and social measures
Our watch congratulates the South Australian Government for seeking White Ribbon workplace
accreditation across its departments. We encourage the South Australian Government to maintain
and strengthen its work to promote gender equality and shape attitudes and social norms to
prevent violence against women and their children. Further action to decrease economic, political
and social power imbalances between women and men might include:
Improving levels of women’s representation in leadership positions in government, in
parliament and on government boards.
Undertaking routine gender analysis as a stage in policy formulation and implementation
as well as for budget decisions, both within individual government departments as well as
within ministerial decision making processes.
Regularly reviewing government policies to ensure that gender equality is embedded in its
practices.
19 See, for example, VicHealth (2012) The Respect, Responsibility and Equality Program: A Summary Report on Five Projects that Build New Knowledge to Prevent Violence against Women.
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Providing informed and consistent whole of government leadership on issues relating to
gender equality and the prevention of violence against women and their children.
4. Tailor prevention programming to different groups and contexts
The evidence base tells us that violence against women and their children occurs across the
Australian community, in all of its diversity. As such, whole-of-population approach is needed to
end it. Strategies need to be tailored to meet people where they are, which means responding to
their different experiences, backgrounds, contexts and circumstances. For example, many
attitudes, beliefs and behaviours are formed in childhood and adolescence, and this is a crucial
time to educate and build skills for respectful relationships through strategies specific to such age
groups.
Historical and existing socio-structural forms of discrimination and disadvantage may contribute to
violence. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the effect of colonisation,
intergenerational trauma and other factors, plays a significant role in understandings, experiences
of, and responses to violence against women and their children. Work to prevent violence against
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their children cannot be separated from efforts
to address racism, dispossession and the intergenerational impact of colonisation and its
associated policies. Integrated and culturally competent strategies that incorporate Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander history, values and experience are therefore critical.
Across all Australian communities, the likelihood and impact of violence against women and their
children can be made worse by existing discrimination and disadvantage associated with factors
such as age, ethnic origin, religion, disability, sexual identity and orientation, age, geographic
location and socio-economic circumstance. When coupled with gender inequality, sex
discrimination and gender stereotyping, the intersection of these factors can compound the
experiences and impacts of violence.
Prevention strategies must address the key drivers of violence against women and their children –
gendered power inequalities, discrimination and stereotyping – and simultaneously challenge
negative stereotypes and socio-structural discrimination based on Aboriginality, or other identity
characteristics such as disability, ethnicity, sexual identity, or refugee status. We need to ensure –
at each step – that all our strategies incorporate diversity, and are based on consultation with,
participation and consideration of the needs and ideas of different groups.
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This also means that specific and tailored initiatives are of benefit to suit the needs of different
groups. These cannot be stand-alone initiatives, but should link to whole-of-population strategies
as part of a holistic effort. They should be based on the principles of meaningful participation,
promoting self-advocacy and capacity building based on understandings of diversity, cultural
respect and sensitivity.
5. Contribute to a collective and evidence-based approach to creating social, cultural and behavioural change across jurisdictions and sectors
In partnership with the Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS)
and VicHealth, Our Watch is developing, in consultation with State and Territory Governments, a
National Framework to Prevent Violence against Women and their Children (the Framework). The
Framework will not prescribe specific actions, but rather provide evidence and guidance to assist
stakeholders to develop appropriate policies, strategies and programs to prevent violence against
women and their children. It will provide the ‘scaffolding’ to help governments guide prevention
activity through mechanisms involving cross-portfolio leadership and the participation of civil
society, especially women’s organisations.
The outcomes of the current Senate Inquiry could help inform the development of the Framework
at the national level, and its implementation in the South Australian context. An early consultation
on the Framework’s underlying principles and conceptualisation was undertaken with key South
Australian stakeholders in Adelaide in late February 2015, and another presenting the results of
consultations around the country is envisaged for May 2015. Our Watch and its partners look
forward to the ongoing engagement of South Australian government, nongovernment and private
sector stakeholders in this work.