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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

lara.fergus@ourwatch.org.au

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.