Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) has announced an investment in six new projects aimed at understanding the perpetration of domestic and family violence.
ANROWS’ $1.49 million investment through the National Priority Research Fund comes after an additional $2 million investment last June, nearly doubling the number of research projects from eight to 14.
In these six new projects, the organisation will engage with groups and stakeholders outside of the family, domestic and sexual violence sector, including groups in the health and education industries. The projects will also work with the LGBTQIA+ community and First Nations communities.
Dr Tess Boyd-Caine, the CEO of ANROWS, said the investment supports an approach to ending violence against women that hasn’t been as prominent in research before.
“A lot of evidence to date has focused on victim and survivor experiences, and that’s incredibly important – but we need to complement that now with a better understanding about the ways the people, mostly men, are using violence against women and children so that we can stop it.” Dr Boyd-Caine told Women’s Agenda.
“These are projects that look at different ways of learning from and connecting with men beyond specialist service responses.”
Violence threatens the lives of women and children in Australia every day. Already this year, 44 women have been violently killed, according to Destroy the Joint’s Counting Dead Women.
Intervention strategies in the domestic, family and sexual violence space is often a siloed approach within the sector, but by engaging with other industries, like health and education, Dr Boyd-Caine said ANROWS’ research could help change this.
“Broadly, our primary prevention strategy is focused on gender equality, and the evidence confirms that domestic, family and sexual violence are examples of gender-based violence.”
One of the six projects covered by ANROWS’ $1.49 million investment is led by a First Nations researcher, bringing the total number of ANROWS projects with an Indigenous focus to three.
First Nations women and children are disproportionately affected by family, domestic and sexual violence. In fact, First Nations women are eight times more likely to be killed than non-Indigenous women. And according to statistics from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 33 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence than non-Indigenous women.
Dr Boyd-Caine said these community-centred approaches in ANROWS’ research, including culturally-safe approaches for First Nations communities, can help understand perpetration of violence better.
“Domestic, family and sexual violence does not discriminate. It can happen in any community. It can happen in any home. It can happen to anyone in any context,” Dr Boyd-Caine said.
“But the responses to domestic, family and sexual violence are most effective when they take account of the context in which it occurs.”
Justine Elliot MP, the Assistant Minister for Social Services and the Prevention of Family Violence, said the new ANROWS projects is a continuation of the government’s National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032.
“The significant investment underscores the Australian Government’s commitment to reducing family, domestic, and sexual violence,” Assistant Minister Elliot said.
“Supporting research into perpetrator behaviour and the drivers of violence is crucial to implementing effective prevention and intervention solutions. We are proud to support ANROWS in this essential work and look forward to the positive impact these projects will have.”