Violence in relationships remains high in our communities, and most would agree that unless the unequal power relations between women and men are more meaningfully addressed, the incidence will not change. Around one in three Australian women experience physical violence, and almost one in five experiences sexual violence over their lifetime. The majority of violence against women in Australia is committed by men they know.
“Violence against women is illegal, unacceptable and a blight on our community. It’s wrong and it’s got to stop. On the whole it’s us as blokes that do this stuff to our women and our kids but we are committed to change this and we want to be part of the answer and part of the solution. Things will never change unless men work side-by-side with women.”
Graham (Bonny) Gibson, Spirit of Men
Murray Bridge, South Australia, 2008
Young men warrant particular attention, given that one in seven young men (aged 12-20) think it is acceptable for a boy to make a girl have sex with him if she has flirted with him or led him on. More than a quarter believe that most physical violence occurs in dating because a partner provoked it37. Another study has found that while many males under age 45 consider the use of physical strength to abuse female partners unfair and cowardly, and verbal and emotional abuse damaging, sexual abuse within a marriage proved a grey area for some38.
While violence against women knows no cultural or age boundaries, the levels, risk and impacts of violence can affect women differently. For example, despite the increased vulnerability of women with disabilities to all forms of intimate violence, many violence prevention programs have failed to address this issue or their needs39. A recent US study found that women with disabilities were 37.3 per cent more likely than women without disability (20.6 per cent) to report experiencing some form of intimate partner violence. 19.7 per cent of women with disabilities reported a history of unwanted sex compared to 8.2 per cent of women without a disability40.
Due to numerous State and Territory based inquiry reports and national media coverage, the high level of violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their children is now better, and more widely, understood.
Despite all of this, there is limited uptake of specific violence prevention education programs nationally. Particular challenges are faced in delivering education in remote and rural areas where overall, service providers are scarce.
New cultural norms are required
As a nation, if we are serious about trying to prevent violence against women before it occurs, we need to embed new cultural norms based on respectful relationships. This theme featured strongly in the written submissions to the Council, arguing that community and school-based education, as well as multi-dimensional social marketing campaigns, were needed to raise awareness and inform and change attitudes. Therefore the Plan of Action sees the promotion of respectful relationships as a key strategy that builds knowledge and skills progressively from young children to adult partners, in which men, women and children are equally valued and violence plays no part in any relationship. Respectful relationships are relationships based on mutual respect, equality, trust and support. Building new cultural norms of respect requires a re-examination of how power operates in all relationships between parents and children, between intimate partners of either gender, and in relationships between people who care for and support children, young people, and women with disabilities. Self-respect and positive self-esteem are the foundations for young women and men to build healthy and respectful relationships with others. Respectful relationships must therefore acknowledge and embrace diversity.
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Preventing violence through education
The prevention of violence against women and their children requires an integrated, multisectoral and sustained approach if it is to be effective42. The Plan of Action provides such an integrated approach.
Currently there is no coherent national policy to address violence prevention education nor is there a national funding body to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of prevention education43. The primary delivery of violence prevention education is by sexual assault or domestic and family violence prevention services that frequently only receive short-term project funding for their programs44. This approach limits the research and practice evidence on program effectiveness to inform future policy, program development and investment decisions45.
The prevention education field in Australia is in its infancy and currently is a patchwork of approaches across the States and Territories. There are significant differences in terms of type and length of programs; theoretical underpinnings; whether diversity is addressed; focus on knowledge, attitudes and skills; evaluation of effectiveness; resources allocated; and training and support of staff delivering programs46. Similarly, the present workforce capacity, in terms of the number of people able to deliver prevention education, is also limited and the numbers are variable between the States and Territories47.
The current sustainability of programs to build community cultures of respectful relationships, and to impact on the prevention of violence, is therefore severely hampered. As a result, a national policy direction is needed to build a coherent approach to violence prevention education that rejects violence against women and their children and sees education programs as key to achieving this goal. This new direction must take into account the specialised intensive teaching needed to ensure appropriate reponses to diversity are delivered.
A 2008 study argues that services need to ensure that prevention initiatives that are designed to reduce intimate partner violence explicitly include the needs of adults with disabilities, and that prevention strategies for people with disabilities are widely adopted48.
Implementing respectful relationships education
Individuals, groups and communities across the country are at different stages of understanding, and commitment to, building respectful relationships, thereby impacting on the effectiveness of current programs and levels of community support49. Recognition of this and the current state of knowledge and workforce capacity suggests a phased introduction of programs is required. This would provide opportunities to work with communities and build a solid evidence base for future respectful relationships education programs.
Violence-prevention education programs need to reach children and young people in school settings and in other locations where they gather. The expansion of violence prevention and respectful relationships education beyond school settings, and beyond the targeting of high school aged students, was often raised during community consultations with the Council. Repeatedly the Council was told that respectful relationships education was needed for children in preschools, child care and playgroups, but it was apparent that further research was needed to inform the design and delivery of such programs to very young children.
School-based programs need to be integrated with school curricula or as part of other comprehensive skill-based initiatives50. Delivering these programs in schools reaches a broad base of young people without stigmatising those at increased risk of violence51. Schools are places where young people learn about relationships, but are also places where they can be subjected to, and perpetrate, sexual violence. Schools therefore provide opportunities to challenge behaviour as an important preventative strategy52. Schools help embed societal norms and values, and are central in the processes of forming gendered identities53, but schools are also regarded as agents of social change. Consequently they can be both the producers of violence as well as the starting point for ending violence54.
School-based programs also increase the possibility of reaching parents with the message of violence prevention55. The Plan of Action includes strategies and actions to expand and improve the effectiveness of school-based education programs that promote respectful relationships.
Introducing programs into schools is complex and time intensive. It requires a whole-of-school approach, working closely with school personnel and assessing the overall school climate, determining its readiness to work towards cultural change, and putting in place strategies to support student disclosures of violence that do not result in further harm and marginalisation. It is not as simple as introducing a one-off program and expecting it to result in respectful relationships between students and between students and staff.
“Violence prevention is not the kind of project that can be imposed on schools or on any other community. When schools – and particularly their leadership teams – are ready to name and discuss violence against women, they will be more open to partnerships and more ready to engage in the challenging work of school-wide violence prevention. The readiness and momentum for this kind of cultural change can grow from the bottom-up but must be spearheaded by school leadership.
If the program is about promoting respect and valuing free agreement, agencies and government must demonstrate this in the way they work with schools. It begins with sitting at the table together and starting the process of partnership, and it leads to long-lasting violence prevention with mutual benefits for all partners”.
Renee Imbesi
National Sexual Assault Prevention Education Roundtable
December 2008
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Working with young children
Violence prevention education programs in Australia have, to date, primarily focused on high school populations, but there is a need to develop programs with infants and primary school age children when they begin to develop their first understandings of relationships.
A pivotal period of learning for children is before the age of six. For this to happen, children need to live in a stable environment with warm attachment between parents/family and children. If this does not occur, neurological brain development is interrupted with the consequent loss of a significant learning opportunity for the child, and the most opportune time of investment for governments56 57 58.
Children living in violent environments are hindered from achieving appropriate developmental milestones. Investment in preventing and reducing the impact of violence will also increase the likelihood of children achieving development milestones in the short-term and living productive, meaningful lives in the long term59.
Apart from school settings, many children are cared for through informal care arrangements with family, neighbours and babysitters60. Young children need to receive age-appropriate education about protective behaviours and safety, and be armed with the tools which will enable them to seek help should they, or someone they know, be experiencing domestic and family violence or sexual abuse. Introducing the foundations of respectful relationships education in the preschool years will also assist teachers and other carers in identifying children at risk, and enable a smoother transition for young children into future sessions in their primary school years. It will provide the foundations for the more extensive educational aspects that are to follow as they progress through both their primary and secondary education.
These programs will also allow earlier detection of child abuse due to information-sharing, practical activities and confidence building that not only educates these young students, but empowers the parents, carers and teachers to be alert for cues from the children in their care61.
The most recent research on children and domestic violence has demonstrated not only that it is possible to talk to children and young people about interpersonal violence, but also that there is a great need to do so62. This is both because general populations of young people are confused about the issue and want to learn more, and also because those children who have lived with violence want to talk about it and make sense of their experiences63. The majority of young people want lessons in school on domestic violence. They would like to be able to discuss what it is, what causes it and what can be done about it64. Young women and men have also indicated they are keen to receive skill-based education about sexual assault and relationships, education that explores the complexity of the issues they face, and provides them with the skills to manage these issues.
“I really do believe that the current sexual assault information is really great about information. What it isn’t great about, the messages that don’t get across, is that stuff… that really grey complicated stuff that happened between [my partner] and I – how do you tell someone that when you give permission, but you don’t want to give permission, you know that’s such a grey area.”
Christine, age 2365
“I know that just the pressures, the external pressures I guess, you know expectations to be cool. You’ve got to be doing that, you’ve got to be treating girls badly and you know kissing them or whatever and just forgetting them, scoring I guess. If you’re a young guy, that’s what you think other people are going to expect from you.”
Dan, age 2066
Prevention in other settings
Apart from school-based programs, young people can also be responsive to prevention education in other settings. Overseas programs, and a limited number of programs in Australia, have been successfully run in primary schools, youth services, women’s health centres, disability organisations, with elite athletes and for general university students. Research shows that attitudes supporting violence against women are more pronounced among young men, warranting targeted violence prevention programs67. Early intervention strategies can be targeted at young men in environments where there are strong signs that violence may occur (for example peer groups, sporting clubs or university residential colleges, in which there is often a strong culture of disrespect for women)68. Therefore a range of settings beyond schools need to be considered in building respectful relationships among young people.
Prevention programs should also address those young people who do not attend school, and through other means and contexts associated with increased risks of victimisation69 70. These include: homeless young people; children living in poverty; families receiving welfare or with incarcerated parents; children leaving juvenile detention or foster care; children and young people with disabilities; young parents; and girls and young women under protective services care71.
Faith and cultural institutions have been identified as important avenues for transmitting beliefs and norms that either support violence or protect against it, and therefore there is a need to ensure prevention work also occurs within these settings72. Addressing diverse needs within prevention education requires more than changing case studies to reflect the needs of specific population groups. Rather, it involves extensive consultation and refinement of program objectives, education methods and processes, and recognition that groups and communities will be at different stages of readiness to receive prevention messages73 74.
Helping parents to develop the knowledge and skills of their children around respectful relationships is crucial in laying a solid foundation for future generations. While many parents currently do this, others often lack the confidence, or feel ill-equipped, to raise the issues appropriately. Given the high rates of physical and sexual abuse in our communities it is not surprising that many mothers in particular are dealing with unresolved traumas from abuse, or are living in an abusive partnership. For parents of teenagers there is often uncertainty about how to raise issues with their son or daughter about intimate relationships. These factors suggest respectful relationships education needs to consider how to support parents and caregivers with positive parenting skills at key transition points in their children’s lives.
No single program will address the complexity and diversity of young people’s needs in the community75 76. This means adequate funding is needed to support a diverse range of programs that meet the different needs of young people and the specific issues facing local communities. Violence prevention programs need to be inclusive, relevant and culturally sensitive to the heightened risks of violence experienced by different groups of women, including women with disabilities, women from immigrant and refugee backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, same-sex attracted women, and women in geographically isolated communities.
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Public campaigns to promote respectful relationships
Public awareness campaigns that promote respectful relationships can be critical partners in any social change process, especially those that employ social marketing approaches that seek to invite people to think about their own attitudes and behaviours. To be successful, such campaigns need careful planning and targeted development using a range of approaches and media forms to reach across diverse communities nationally.
There are few evaluations of the effectiveness of these approaches, but where these exist there is evidence that they work77. They have been found to be most effective when implemented in concert with other strategies (for example community strengthening, direct participation programs and education programs), so that the messages of cultural and behavioural change are being mutually reinforced across a range of settings78.
It is important that any social marketing campaign is based on theoretical understandings of violence and attitudinal and behavioural change. Related to this is the need for training and technical resources for media personnel to reduce the portrayal of violence and violence against women, and improve the depiction of gender roles and relations in the media79.
Consistent with promoting respectful relationships, social marketing campaigns must focus on positive messages of cultural and behavioural change rather than solely on raising awareness about the incidence and impacts of violence against women; campaigns of the latter type are often directed at victims as a means of encouraging them to access support.
Measuring effectiveness of respectful relationships education
Research shows that knowledge of violence, of itself, will not result in a change in behaviour towards respectful relationships80. Skills-based programs that offer practical solutions and provide opportunities to practice skills needed for respectful and ethical relationships increase the likelihood of a change in behaviour that potentially prevents violence occurring81 82 83.
The targeting of men and boys as participants in violence prevention programs is also proving to be an effective approach that challenges both cultural and peer norms that condone violence, and has success where males are approached as allies or potential bystanders, able to challenge violence-supportive attitudes and behaviour, rather than as potential perpetrators84 85 86.
Comprehensive evaluation of programs is seen internationally as essential to high quality and effective prevention education programs87. Despite this, program evaluations have been limited in their conception and implementation88. Locally it is argued that evaluations are often directed towards the process of programs and not towards program outcomes, and are often poorly designed89. There is a need to build evaluation mechanisms that assess the lasting impact of respectful relationships education programs on the lives of young people beyond the life of the program90. The current research project being conducted on behalf of the National Association of Services against Sexual Assault (NASASV)91 to improve prevention education standards will assist the field in developing higher quality programs.
To achieve a world-class prevention education policy focused on building respectful relationships and informed by research and practice evidence, it is recommended that a specific funding stream be established with the proposed National Centre of Excellence to Prevent Violence against Women to address:
- the development of prevention education programs;
- training and accreditation of staff and programs;
- design and monitoring the effectiveness of prevention education nationally;
- evaluation of the impact of targeted public awareness campaigns.
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Strategies and actions
To create respectful relationships, the Plan of Action focuses on four key strategies:
2.1 Build the capacity for prevention education.
2.2 Ensure all children participate in respectful relationships education.
2.3 Support effective parenting.
2.4 Build the evidence base.
2.1 Build the capacity for prevention education
2.1.1 As part of developing a National Primary Prevention Framework (preventing violence against women) build the capacity of the prevention education sector by researching and evaluating primary prevention outcomes, develop standards and indicators for best practice programs, and develop tools and information products to support programs in different settings.
2.1.2 Expand the capacity of teachers and other educators and leaders to provide violence prevention education programs.
2.1.3 Incorporate a focus on respectful relationships in broader social marketing campaigns designed to raise community awareness and effect cultural and behavioural change, which are particularly targeted at people from diverse backgrounds and young people who have an increased risk of victimisation and perpetration.
2.2 Ensure all children participate in respectful relationships education
2.2.1 Develop, trial, implement and evaluate educational programs in a range of settings, based on best practice principles, for pre-schoolers, children, adolescents and adults that encourage respectful relationships and protective behaviours.
2.2.2 Incorporate respectful relationship education into the national curriculum so that all children have access to, and participate in, a comprehensive respectful relationship education program before leaving school.
2.2.3 Develop and implement an accreditation and evaluation system for respectful relationships programs to ensure that program development and delivery meets best practice.
2.3 Support effective parenting
2.3.1 Recognise the additional challenges for parents and carers of children with disabilities and build on and target early childhood resources, programs and services, including respite, to assist with developing and maintaining respectful relationships.
2.3.2 As part of associated government initiatives, provide resources to families at key transition points (for example birth of children, starting school, puberty, leaving school) to help them maintain a positive approach to parenting.
2.3.3 Build on and target existing resources, programs and services to assist parents and primary caregivers to provide positive parenting by supporting their children to develop respectful relationships.
2.4 Build the evidence base
2.4.1 Provide annual reporting on the number of respectful relationship programs provided per State and Territory, and assess the application of best practice standards.
2.4.2 Undertake benchmarking of young people’s attitudes towards women and violence; and review every five years.
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