Australians' Attitudes to Violence Against Women And

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Australians' Attitudes to Violence Against Women And Australians’ attitudes to violence against women and gender equality Findings from the 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) In partnership with: Australians’ attitudes to violence against women and gender equality Findings from the 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) In partnership with: Suggested citation Acknowledgement of lived experiences Webster, K., Diemer, K., Honey, N., Mannix, S., Mickle, J., of violence Morgan, J., Parkes, A., Politoff, V., Powell, A., Stubbs, J., & It is also important to acknowledge the lives and Ward, A. (2018). Australians’ attitudes to violence against experiences of the women and children affected by women and gender equality. Findings from the 2017 National domestic violence and sexual assault. Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) (Research report, 03/2018). Sydney, NSW: Caution: Some people may find parts of this content ANROWS. confronting or distressing. Recommended support services include: 1800 RESPECT – 1800 737 732, Lifeline – 13 11 14 Acknowledgements This material was produced with funding from the Australians’ attitudes to violence against women Australian Government. Australia’s National Research and gender equality. Findings from the 2017 Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) gratefully National Community Attitudes towards Violence acknowledges the financial and other support it has against Women Survey (NCAS) / Kim Webster et al. received from the Government, without which this Sydney, NSW: ANROWS. work would not have been possible. ANROWS led the Pages ; 30 cm. (Research report, 03/2018) project in collaboration with The University of Melbourne I. Women – Violence against – Australia – Public opinion. (UOM), University of New South Wales (UNSW), the Royal II. National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) and Against Women Survey (Australia : 2017). III. Family the Social Research Centre (SRC) as research partners. violence – Australia – Public opinion – Statistics. IV. Gender ANROWS is indebted to all these research partners as mainstreaming – Public opinion – Statistics. well as to the many research, practice and policy experts from across Australia who contributed to the 2017 survey I. Webster, Kim. II. Diemer, Kristin. III. Honey, Nikki. IV. through the project’s advisory structures. Although too Mannix, Samantha. V. Mickle, Justine. numerous to name here, they are listed in Appendix A. VI. Morgan, Jenny. VII. Parkes, Alexandra. VIII. Politoff, Violeta Marticorena. IX. Powell, Anastasia. ANROWS acknowledges the Victorian Health Promotion X. Stubbs, Julie. XI. Ward, Andrew. Foundation (VicHealth) for its consistent support, with John Fulcher and Renee Imbesi making particular ISBN: 978-1-925372-91-5 (print) contributions. Thanks are extended to Dr Stuart Ross and 978-1-925372-90-8 (online) Dr Walter DeKeseredy for their thoughtful review of this report as part of ANROWS peer review processes, and Creative Commons Licence for their helpful suggestions for strengthening it; to Mark Attribution Non-Commercial Richardson for his invaluable contribution and unwavering CC BY-NC 4.0 International generosity and support; and to Holly Windle for her https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 design expertise. Acknowledgement of Country ANROWS acknowledges the traditional owners of the land across Australia on which we work and live. We pay our Please note that there is the potential for minor respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders revisions of this report. Please check the online past, present, and future, and we value Aboriginal and version at http://ncas.anrows.org.au for any amendment. Torres Strait Islander history, culture, and knowledge. The findings and views reported in this paper are those of the authors and cannot be attributed to the Australian Government, or any Australian state or territory government. Contents Project implementation group, research team and peer reviewers .......................................................................................................2 Abbreviations ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................3 About this report ...................................................................................................................................................................................................4 1 Executive summary ......................................................................................................................................................................................5 2 About the National Community Attitudes Survey towards Violence against Women Survey ..............................................17 3 The need for action to reduce and prevent violence against women .........................................................................................18 4 Why measure knowledge, attitudes and intentions? ........................................................................................................................24 5 About the 2017 questionnaire ................................................................................................................................................................31 6 Conducting the NCAS ............................................................................................................................................................................... 36 7 Analysing and reporting the results ......................................................................................................................................................37 8 Benchmarking knowledge and understanding of violence against women ..............................................................................41 9 Benchmarking attitudes towards gender equality ........................................................................................................................... 63 10 Benchmarking attitudes to violence against women ...................................................................................................................... 77 11 Knowledge and attitudes among people and in places.................................................................................................................. 94 12 Knowledge and attitudes in social contexts and occupations ................................................................................................... 100 13 Factors influencing knowledge and attitudes .................................................................................................................................. 108 14 Intended responses to violence against women .............................................................................................................................118 15 Key findings in Australian states and territories ............................................................................................................................. 129 16 Strengths and limitations of the NCAS .............................................................................................................................................. 135 17 Discussion of findings and implications for policy, practice and further research ............................................................... 137 18 References ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 159 19 Appendix A: NCAS expert and advisory group members ............................................................................................................ 180 20 Appendix B: Glossary and terminology ............................................................................................................................................. 182 21 Appendix C: Attitudes to general violence and prejudice: frequencies ................................................................................... 185 Australians’ attitudes to violence against women and gender equality. Findings from the 2017 NCAS 1 Project implementation group, research team and peer reviewers Implementation group (including lead Researchers and project contributors researchers) Professor Jenny Morgan, Melbourne Law School, The Social Research Centre University of Melbourne (co-chair) Ms Alexandra Parkes, Research Consultant Professor Julie Stubbs, Faculty of Law, UNSW, Sydney Mr Andrew Ward, Principal Statistician (co-chair) Dr Kristin Diemer, Senior Research Fellow, Department Australia’s National Research Organisation for of Social Work, The University of Melbourne Women’s Safety Associate Professor Anastasia Powell, Criminology and Ms Violeta Marticorena Politoff, Senior Research Officer Justice Studies, RMIT University Ms Samantha Mannix, Research Officer Dr Nikki Honey, Research Director, Social Research Ms Justine Mickle, Project Officer Centre Dr Kate O’Halloran, Research Officer Ms Kim Webster, Project Manager, Australia's National Ms Nicolette Solomon, Research Officer Research Organisation for Womens Safety and lead Ms Rosie Yasmin, Research Officer author Dr Mayet Costello, (then) Director, Research Program, Peer reviewers Australia’s National Research Organisation
Recommended publications
  • Review of Bystander Approaches in Support of Preventing Violence Against Women
    Review of bystander approaches in support of preventing violence against women Preventing violence against women by increasing participation in respectful relationships © Copyright Victorian Health Promotion Foundation 2011 Published in May 2011 by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) Carlton, Victoria, Australia ISBN: 978-1-921822-18-6 Publication Number: P-052-V_B Review of bystander approaches in support of preventing violence against women Dr Anastasia Powell School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University May 2011 Victorian Health Promotion Foundation Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 4 1.1. Aim of the review .................................................................................................................. 7 1.2 Scope of the review and terminology used ............................................................................. 7 2. Bystander approaches: Theoretical origins .................................................................................12 2.1 Social psychology ..................................................................................................................13 2.2 Criminology ...........................................................................................................................16 3. From theory to practice models ..................................................................................................18 3.1 Translating
    [Show full text]
  • Conference Programme 2018
    Rethinking time in a changing world 1 Outstanding Achievement Award 2018 Professor Frances Heidensohn (London School of Economics) Professor Frances Heidensohn has made an outstanding contribution to both the discipline and to those who work within it. Her expansive body of work spans almost fifty years and is both national and international in reach, influence and impact. Her seminal paper in 1968, ‘The deviance of women’ a critique and an enquiry’, shone a critical light on the lack of investigation and the theoretical neglect of women’s deviance. In calling for a gendered sociology of knowledge, the growth in feminist criminological scholarship, changes to the criminological curriculum, journals and networks devoted to the study of gender, crime and social control that have emerged over the last five decades is extraordinary; and in all of these endeavours, Professor Heidensohn has played a key role in their initiation. In challenging the cultural and structural contexts of academia – and their relation to larger social and political institutions – her work has forced the academe to consider what we study, how and why we study them. Her work has since been taken up and addressed by feminist scholars and has inspired generations of feminist criminologists. Her body of work has also impacted on those scholars that do not identify as feminist but are still convinced by the inherent logic that gender is one of the most basic organizing structures within and across societies, and as such her work has broad import for our understanding of crime and social control. Her book Women and Crime (1985) firmly established her as a major criminological thinker and continues to be a key text for contemporary scholars and students of criminology.
    [Show full text]
  • The Politics of Gender Violence in the Context of War Will Be Discussed
    Central European University Department of Public Policy Winter 2012/2013 THE POLITICS OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE Course instructor: Andrea Krizsan, Center for Policy Studies; [email protected] Credit number: 2 Office hours: TBA; Nador u.11, room 316 Course level: M.A. Course objectives and overview Gender based violence is one of the main social forces producing and reproducing gender inequality. Brought to international and national policy agendas by feminist movements it has lately become a core policy issue discussed not just in the framework of gender equality policy but related to policies on human rights, crime prevention, child protection, health, development, cross border migration and trafficking and conflict and post conflict intervention. This course aims to look at the politics of gender based violence through understanding the main challenges of framing it as a policy issue. Starting from the history of feminist mobilization around gender based violence and the feminist approach to it the course will progress through understanding contestation to the feminist framing, alternative approaches to it and proceed to examining currently available norms and state responses addressing it. The course will pay particular attention to some specific forms of gender based violence such as violence in intimate relations, sexual violence, sexual harassment, traditional forms of violence, trafficking and violence in conflict and post conflict situations. Course Structure The structure of the course will be fourfold. I. The first part of the class will introduce the course, basic concepts of gender based violence, and will discuss approaches coming from cost and measurement of violence. II. The second part of the class will introduce the contestation between the feminist framing of gender violence and other important approaches to gender violence such as human rights, family policy and children’s rights and health approaches.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Rape Culture and Social Media: Young Critics and a Feminist
    1 Rape Culture and Social Media: Young Critics and a Feminist Counterpublic Sophie Sills, [email protected] Chelsea Pickens, [email protected] Karishma Beach, [email protected] Lloyd Jones, [email protected] Octavia Calder-Dawe, [email protected] Paulette Benton-Greig, [email protected] Nicola Gavey, [email protected] (corresponding author) School of Psychology, University of Auckland Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand This study was supported in part by the Marsden Fund Council from New Zealand Government funding, administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand, and by the University of Auckland. Accepted for publication, Feminist Media Studies, November 2015, to be published in 16(6) 2016 2 Abstract Social media sites, according to Rentschler (2014) can become both “aggregators of online misogyny” as well as key spaces for feminist education and activism. They are spaces where ‘rape culture’, in particular, is both performed and resisted, and where a feminist counterpublic can be formed (Salter 2013). In this New Zealand study, we interviewed 17 young people (16-23 years) who were critical of rape culture about their exposure and responses to it on social media and beyond. Participants described a ‘matrix of sexism’ in which elements of rape culture formed a taken-for-granted backdrop to their everyday lives. They readily discussed examples they had witnessed, including victim-blaming, ‘slut- shaming’, rape jokes, the celebration of male sexual conquest, and demeaning sexualized representations of women. While participants described this material as distressing, they also described how online spaces offered inspiration, education and solidarity that legitimated their discomfort with rape culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Embodied Revolt: a Feminist-Bourdieusian Analysis of Protesting Bodies
    Embodied Revolt: A Feminist-Bourdieusian Analysis of Protesting Bodies by D. Sophia Myers BA, Vancouver Island University, 2017 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Sociology © D. Sophia Myers, 2020 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. We acknowledge with respect the Lekwungen peoples on whose traditional territory the university stands and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day. ii Embodied Revolt: A Feminist-Bourdieusian Analysis of Protesting Bodies by D. Sophia Myers BA, Vancouver Island University, 2017 Supervisory Committee Dr. Steve Garlick (Department of Sociology) Supervisor Dr. Laura Parisi (Department of Gender Studies) Outside Member iii Abstract Through assessing Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field, this research project examines how re- sistance can be understood as an embodied experience. Six resistors are asked in semi-structured and dialogic interviews how they experience resistance to oppression of various forms including patriarchy, colonialism, cisheteronormativity, and capitalism. Three main themes emerge from these interviews and include: the construction of a resistant habitus, the occurrence of solidarity through which resistant habitus may mobilize, and the possibility of transforming oppressive fields such as patriarchy into fields of feminist resistance. Through instances of increased awareness of one’s social struggle, devel- opments of mobile solidarity, and the occupation of oppressive fields in the name of social change, this project posits that habitus are capable of enacting change upon the field.
    [Show full text]
  • The Human Right to Sexual Autonomy
    German Law Journal (2021), 22, pp. 703–717 doi:10.1017/glj.2021.35 ARTICLE Special Issue: Sexual Violence and Criminal Justice in the 21st Century Section I: Defining Sexual Autonomy and the Consent Paradigm The Human Right to Sexual Autonomy Dana-Sophia Valentiner Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany Corresponding author: [email protected] (Received 17 June 2021; accepted 17 June 2021) Abstract During the 20th century, society’s view on sexualities has undergone a severe paradigm shift. While moving away from ideas of decency and bawdiness to evaluate legitimate sexuality, concepts of autonomy and consent gained importance. This transformation is also challenging the law.1 With the broad acceptance of various forms of sexual behavior and sexual orientation, legal regulation based on morality and ethics is outdated. Recent debates on law and sexualities focus on sexual autonomy and its conditions. This is shown especially by the legal debate on sexual violence and criminal law.2 But the right to sexual autonomy does not only require adequate protection against sexual violence. As a human right, it obliges State Parties to Human Rights Treaties such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to respect, protect, and fulfill sexual autonomy. This includes the guarantee of freedom from sexual violence, coercion and discrimination, as well as control over one’s own body and over the involvement in sexual interactions with others. In order to ensure the different components of sexual autonomy, sexual education and reliable access to information and medical services are necessary.
    [Show full text]
  • Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence on Tuesday 8Th September 2020
    FACULTY OF ARTS Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs: Family, domestic and sexual violence Response to questions taken on Notice Prepared by the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, 22 September 2020. 22 September 2020 The Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs Response to Questions on Notice Thank you for the opportunity to provide a response to questions taken on notice when presenting to the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence on Tuesday 8th September 2020. Please find our response to each of the questions taken on notice attached to this letter. Since we provided our submission to the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs at the end of July 2020 there has been a significant increase in public debate and political attention surrounding calls for the criminalisation of coercive and controlling behaviours. In this response we repeat our recommendation to this Committee that state and territory governments should be cautioned against the introduction of a stand-alone criminal offence of coercive and controlling behaviour without developing a sufficient evidence base first. We have provided further detail on what is needed to improve responses to what is already known about coercive and controlling behaviours across Australia. Our response also includes an appendix with a written response by our colleagues Associate Professor Asher Flynn (Monash University) and Associate Professor Anastasia Powell (RMIT) with leading expertise in the area of technology facilitated abuse. We would welcome the opportunity to provide any further detail to inform the work of the Standing Committee’s reference to examine family, domestic and sexual violence with the view of information the next National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.
    [Show full text]
  • 104. Org N Henry, and a Powell 1
    104._org_N Henry, and A Powell Submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Discussion Paper: Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era Dr Nicola Henry, Senior Lecturer, Legal Studies, La Trobe University Dr Anastasia Powell, Lecturer, Justice & Legal Studies, RMIT University Dear Professor McDonald, We welcome the opportunity to respond to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) consultation regarding serious invasions of privacy in the digital era. We are criminologists and socio-legal scholars working on an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery project on technology-facilitated sexual violence and harassment (TFSV). The aim of the project is to significantly strengthen understandings of adult women’s experiences of technology mediated sexual violence and harassment, and to investigate the effectiveness of legal and policy frameworks for responding to these new and emerging harms. Our research highlights a range of problematic behaviours which disproportionately affect women and girls. These behaviours include: (1) the unauthorised creation and distribution (actual or threatened) of sexual images; (2) the creation and distribution (actual or threatened) of sexual assault images; (3) using a carriage service to procure a sexual assault; (4) online sexual harassment and cyberstalking; and (5) gender-based hate speech. To date, our research has identified instances whereby a privacy-type violation, such as the non-consensual sexual image sharing or the posting of identifying information alongside gender-based hate speech (such as general threats of sexual violence against women), have caused significant harms to individual women; in many cases, causing ongoing distress. Presently, civil and criminal laws are limited for responding to these harms.
    [Show full text]
  • Women Facing Daily Violence Online
    National Commission for the Promotion of Equality Societal gender stereotypes and their echo into the online world Technology has the power to connect and empower people with online platforms providing a mirror of our lives. For women and girls this mirror may too often reflect a world of misogyny, marginalisation and violence. Just as technology has the power to connect people it can also reinforce and normalise stereotypical gender roles and cultural customs. In fact, artificial intelligence systems and machine-learning algorithms have come under fire recently because they can pick up and reinforce existing biases in our society, depending on what data they are programmed with. In this context, women are often targeted, threatened and abused online mainly due to their gender. In the tech world, cyber violence can include online hate speech, cyber harassment, cyber stalking, and non-consensual image-abuse. These forms of violence can occur on online platforms such as social media, discussion sites, search engines, messaging services, blogs, dating websites or apps, chat rooms and comment sections of online newspapers. In fact the study, “Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence: A Literature Review of Empirical Research” published in 2018 by Nicola Henry and Anastasia Powell from two Australian Universities, indicated that forms of abuse are mainly based on gender, sexuality and age, with young women being the most targeted. Moreover, females with a public persona can also be targeted for being visible and vocal, whether as a politician,
    [Show full text]
  • Media Release
    MEDIA RELEASE 25 May 2012 REPORT SHOWS BYSTANDERS HESITANT TO ACT ON SEXISM Media are invited to conduct interviews today at: Event: Launch of the More than ready report Location: VicHealth, 15-31 Pelham Street, Carlton Time: 10.30am today, Friday 25 May Available for interview/photo: Dr Anastasia Powell, Renee Imbesi, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Tim Cartwright, of Victoria Police, a survivor of sexual assault and a survivor of family violence. One in three Victorians have witnessed sexism and discrimination against women during the past year, but less than half said or did something to stop it, a new VicHealth research report shows. A further one in 10 also said they wanted to intervene, but didn’t say or do anything to show they disagree with sexist attitudes. The More than ready report involved a survey by the Social Research Centre of 600 Victorians about their willingness to speak up against certain situations of sexism, harassment and discrimination of women. It will be launched by VicHealth and Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Tim Cartwright in Melbourne today. It looked at whether people were more or less likely to step in at work, on the job or at their sports club. Lead author Doctor Anastasia Powell, lecturer in Sociology at Latrobe University, says the research is a reflection of the serious issue and prevalence of gender inequality in our community. “Sexist, derogatory and discriminatory behaviour is upsetting for the person who experiences it, but it also impacts the people who witness it, particularly when they feel powerless to act,” Dr Powell said.
    [Show full text]
  • Anti-Rape” and Pro-Equality in Our Real, Everyday Lives
    ON LINE opinion - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate ‘Post-feminist’ or ‘pro-rape’ culture? By Anastasia Powell and Sheree Cartwright Posted Monday, 16 November 2009 We have been described as living in a post-feminist age: a time of “girl power” where young women are empowered to negotiate sex on their own terms. Today’s young women (like many young men) are free to actively embrace their sexuality, and to put their bodies on display without fear of sullying their reputation or experiencing sexual taunts and violence. They aim to determine their own reality and reject constructs imposed by society’s expectations. The F-word has long been described as irrelevant to today’s young woman, who avidly exclaims “I’m not a feminist, but …” “But …” is right. In last Monday’s edition of The Age (November 9, 2009) it was reported that a group of past and present students of the University of Sydney had set up a “pro-rape” page on Facebook describing themselves as “anti-consent”. Yet the public Facebook site (which has since been closed down) is apparently just one part of a larger counter-culture that is associated with the sexual assaults of several young women. Of course, those working in sexual assault services know that young women’s experiences of sexual assault and other forms of sexual harassment and violence remain remarkably common across mainstream Australian society. According to Victoria Police statistics it is young women aged 16 to 20, and 21 to 25, who are the most likely to experience sexual assault.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 COURSE SYLLABUS the Law and Politics of Combating Violence
    COURSE SYLLABUS The Law and Politics of Combating Violence Against Women Professors Andrea Krizsan and Mathias Möschel Winter Term / AY 2019-20 MA/LL.M. level course 3 Credits No pre-requisites or co-requisites Office hours: by appointment Brief Introduction: Gender based violence is one of the main social forces producing and reproducing gender inequality. Brought to international and national policy agendas by feminist movements it has lately become a core policy issue discussed not just in the framework of gender equality but related to policies on human rights, crime prevention, child protection, health, development, cross border migration and trafficking and conflict and post conflict intervention. This course aims to look at the law and the politics of gender based violence through understanding the main challenges of framing it as a policy and international human rights issue. The course will aim to understand contestation of the policy meanings of gender based violence, alternative approaches to it and examine currently existing international conventions, case law and standards set by different international human rights bodies and state responses. The course will pay particular attention to some specific forms of gender based violence such as domestic violence, femicide, rape, traditional forms of violence, trafficking, sexual harassment, cyber violence and violence in conflict and post conflict situations. Learning outcomes: The course will sensitize students interested in issues and debates related to different forms of violence against women pertinent to most developed and new democracies and societies in transformation. Due to the nature of the topic, the course will invite students to develop their skills of critical thinking by understanding major political, legal and policy debates and actors that shape considerations on combating violence against women via international human rights law and domestic policies.
    [Show full text]