Keeping Women Safe Project

Keeping Women Safe Project

Annotated Bibliography

June 4, 2016

1. Systemic Response and Gendered Approach

Citation / Summary
De Boer, M. (2015). Strengthen your advocacy by using the Human Rights Framework. Workshop: 3rd World Conference of Women’s Shelters. / The presentation defines human rights and international human rights mechanisms, speaks to using Human Rights to strengthen advocacy, undertaking a Human Rights Impact Assessment as they specifically relate to impact of state interventions on human rights. It also discusses DOVA – the Human Rights Assessment Instrument on Domestic Violence. DOVA supports analysis of existing policies and laws as well as practice of domestic violence, and guides organizational action plans focusing on lobbying and awareness raising. Specifically, DOVA’s 7 steps include identification of problem and policy, government’s commitments, social and political circumstances, implementation, impact of the policy in practice, accountability, and recommendations and action plan.
Healy, T., and Trew, S. (Eds.) (2015). The Harper Record, 2008-2015. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (In Press). / This paper discusses issues associated with the Harper government, including addressing issues of the Indigenous community, the energy agenda, civil society, funding, as well as relationship of the government with the public sector and unions, and immigration, crime, taxation and child care policies.
Lahey, K. (2015). The Alberta Disadvantage: Gender, Taxation, and Income Inequality. Parkland Institute Research: Reports. / This paper discusses Alberta’s response to its commitments to implement gender equality, and speaks to how income gaps, shifts in taxation policies, and reliance on nonrenewable resources impact gender equality. The author provides recommendations for taxation, and establishment of provincial ministry charged with eliminating all forms of gender discrimination in Alberta.
The Women’s Centre. (2015) A gendered analysis for poverty reduction in Alberta. / The Women’s Centre of Calgary has identified the following specific policy recommendations to provide a gendered analysis for poverty reduction in Alberta: women’s leadership, child care and early learning, income first, strong social infrastructure, education skills and training, health care, housing and intergovernmental collaboration and advocacy on poverty.
Htun, M. and Weldon, S. (2012). The civic origins of progressive policy change: combating violence against women in global perspective, 1975-2005. American Political Science Review, Vol. 106, No. 3. / The paper discusses VAW as a violation of human rights and an important concern for social policy and action by various governments. The review of VAW policies in 70 countries demonstrates that autonomous movements produce an enduring impact on VAW policy through the institutionalization of feminist ideas in international norms.

Systemic Response and Gendered Approach - Continued

Citation / Summary
Nixon, K., and Tutty, L. (2009/10). “Where Have All the Women Gone”? Woman Abuse and Canadian Social Policy, 63/64. / This discussion paper highlights three characteristics of adopting a degendered and family/child-centred approach in government policymaking with respect to intimate partner violence against women: 1. The portrayal of men as equally victimized by intimate partner violence is, in part, a consequence of research that fails to take into account the context of the abuse and ignores the asymmetrical power imbalance between women and men in families. 2. Utilizing degendered terms (e.g., family violence and domestic abuse) for policies and programs, obscures the fact that women tend to be overwhelmingly the primaryvictims. 3. Recent attention to children's exposure to violence in the home has overshadowed women's victimization. Authors argue that policymakers should adopt agendered analysis when developing solutions to address intimate partner violence,and that social policy must protect children as well as their mothers.
DeKeseredy, W., Donermeyer, J., Schwarts, M. (2009). Toward a gendered Second Generation CPTED for preventing woman abuse in rural communities. Security Journal, 22(3). / The main objective of this paper is to discuss how key principles of Second Generation Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) can be applied to help design appropriate community-based prevention strategies for improving the security of women living in rural places from abuse by spouses and partners. The gender-sensitive version of CPTED recognizes that communities are contested places where differing strands of values, norms, beliefs and tolerance for crime influence the security of rural women. The paper proposes a Second Generation CPTED framework that considers the utilization of four main strategies, each tailored to directly address feminist concerns and enhance a locality's collective efficacy to increase women's security: community culture; connectivity and pro-feminist masculinity; community threshold and social cohesion.
DeKeseredy, W., and Dragiewicz, M. (2009). Shifting Public Policy Direction: Gender-Focused Versus Bi-Directional Intimate Partner Violence. University of Ontario Institute of Technology: Oshawa, Ontario. / The report addresses the problem of gender-neutral discourse and its distortion of research on woman abuse, violence against same-sex partners and on violence against men. It critiques research cited to promote gender-neutral perspectives, demonstrates how research can be misused and misinterpreted and cites research findings on sex differences in violence and abuse against intimates and former intimates. Crime data documenting sex differences is described with respect to sexual assault (primarily experienced by women), and homicide (women are significantly more likely to be killed by intimate partners).
UN Women (???). Transforming Economies: Empower Women and Girls Call to Action. / The paper argues that women’s economic empowerment is critical for gender equality and for achieving the goals of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Transformative impact is possible when women have equal rights to economic resource, achieve full and productive employment, and when burden of unpaid care and domestic work is reduced and redistributed.

Systemic Response and Gendered Approach - Continued

Citation / Summary
Our Watch (????). Change the Story. A Shared Framework for the Primary Prevention of Violence Against Women and Their Children in Australia. Developed in partnership with Australia’s National Research Organization for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth). / Change the story presents the evidence and a conceptual approach for preventing violence against women and their children in Australia. It discusses gendered drivers of violence (condoning, men’s control of decision making, rigid gender roles, male relations that emphasise aggression and disrespect towards women) as well as reinforcing factors (e.g., exposure to violence, socio-economic inequality, backlash factors). Key actions include: challenge condoning of VAW, promote women’s independence, foster positive personal identities and challenge gender stereotypes, strengthen positive/equal/respectful relations between genders, promote and normalize gender equality in public and private life. The document outlines prevention approaches, setting, techniques; need for prevention infrastructure; and stakeholder roles and responsibilities.
Lahey, K. (2016). Equal Worth: Designing Effective Pay Equity Laws for Alberta. Edmonton, Ab.: Parkland Institute . / The report places pay inequalities as the core of women’s economic inequality in Canada, with Alberta having the largest gender income gap in the country, primarily due to Alberta laws that do not require that women receive equal pay for work of equal worth. The report identifies pay equity legislation as the first and most fundamental step in reducing this gender income gap. The report finds that the most effective pay equity laws are compulsory, comprehensive and feature enforcement and ongoing oversight measures and proposes a model that delivers economic benefits to the most vulnerable and provides financial incentives to the provincial and federal governments.

1. General Overviews

Citation / Summary
Alberta Government. (2015). Thought Leaders Dialogue and Action on Family Violence. Summary Notes – November 5, 2015 / The Deputy Ministers of Human Services and Status of Women hosted a half-day session, Thought Leaders Dialogue and Actions on Family Violence, in Edmonton on November 5, 2015.Several key themes emerged during the dialogue, such as the hidden dimension to family violence, as well as further examination of gender inequality as a systemic issue. Additional themes that surfaced included, changing the public discourse on family violence, the need for more in-depth research and data, identifying the gaps in our continuum of services, and improving communication and information sharing across the system. Decision to host similar action-oriented dialogues on a regular basis focusing on legislation, crisis intervention, legal and police response, as well as community coordination and collaboration.
Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses (2015). The Practice Exchange Project and Principles of Caring. A project by the Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses. / The project sets out several principals of caring when supporting women and children fleeing domestic violence. They include: a feminist approach based on respectful mutual relationships between men and women accounting for power imbalances with marginalized groups; intersectional anti-racist/anti-oppressive approach accounting for intersectionality of gender, class, colour, ethnicity, sexual orientation, (dis)abilities and more; using trauma-informed approach contextualizing patterns of behaviour as symptoms of trauma and not pathological; harm reduction approach allowing trauma-affected women to steer their own coping and survival strategies.
Adapted from Reducing Barriers to Support for Women Fleeing Violence by BCSTH, ACWS Shelter Practice Orientation Manual, the OAITH Creating Inclusive Spaces Practical Guide for Creating an Integrated Anti-Racist Feminist Service Delivery System, and discussions with shelter leaders through the PEP Knowledge Exchange Focus Groups.
Messing, J., Ward-Lasher, A., Thaller, J., and Bagwell-Gray, M. (2015). The State of Intimate Partner Violence Intervention: Progress and Continuing Challenges. Social Work, 60 (4). / The one-size-fits-all approach that encourages prosecution and batterer intervention programs for offenders and shelter and advocacy for victim-survivors fails to adhere to the social work value of client self-determination and the practice principle of meeting clients where they are. It is imperative that social workers in all areas of practice are aware of IPV policies, services, and laws. Social workers’ challenge moving forward is to develop innovative, culturally competent and evidence-based interventions that serve all victim-survivors of IPV while continuing to challenge larger patriarchal structures that result in gender inequality.
Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario (2014). Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, 2012 annual report. / The report describes cases reviewed between 2003 and 2012 and provides recommendations with respect to identifying risk factors for lethality, importance of identifying multiple risk factors, gaps in the areas of public and professionals’ awareness, education and training; as well as well as for better integration and cooperation among systems, changes to public policy and linking child protection and woman abuse.

General Overviews - Continued

Citation / Summary
Provincial Office of Domestic Violence (PODV) (2014) . British Columbia’s Provincial Domestic Violence Plan. Victoria, BC. / This is a three-year plan by the BC government to address domestic violence in collaboration with community and government partners. The plan discusses the issue of domestic violence (definitions, prevalence, costs), action taken subsequent to the 2010 domestic violence action plan and the provincial policy with respect to violence against women in relationships. The PODV reviewed several reports and recommendations which set the stage for consulting with partners on key themes including: public awareness and prevention; supports and services for survivors and perpetrators; justice system response; coordination, information sharing and referrals; research, training and evaluation; addressing unique needs of Aboriginal, immigrant and refugee women and women with disabilities. Plans key outcomes included: integrated, coordinated response; enhanced information sharing; improved direct services for survivors, children and perpetrators.
Johnson, H., and Kapoor, P. (2013). The Case for a National Action Plan on Violence Against Women. Written for the Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses. / This paper documents the result of the Network’s Mapping VAW Policy and Opportunities Project. Barriers include lack of recognition of the gendered nature of family violence; under-funding of services and supports for women affected by violence; use of Western therapeutic approaches when working with Aboriginal women; costly/inaccessible/fragmented legal systems; affordable and low income housing deficits; over-reliance on the criminal justice system and use of pro-charging policies. Concluding recommendation is to develop a National (multi-sectoral) Action Plan on VAW. There also were specific recommendations for supporting Aboriginal women, calling for a change in orientation – replacing short-term crisis intervention model with long-term approach.
Alberta Government Interdepartmental Committee on Family Violence and Bullying. (2012). Family violence hurts everyone: A framework to end family violence in Alberta Calgary, Alberta. / Strategic priorities included: strengthen efforts to prevent family violence across the lifespan, enhance services and supports and the justice response for victims and offenders of family violence; collaborate with the community and support capacity-building activities centered on family violence prevention; influence societal attitudes to promote non-violent norms; evaluate, measure and demonstrate collective impact.
Garcia-Rojas, C. (Ed) (2011). Reporting on Rape and Sexual Violence. A Media Toolkit for Local and national Journalists for Better Media Coverage. Produced for Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls and Young Women. / The toolkit was needed to support the Taskforce’s activities in raising the issue of violence against girls in the public discourse. The document defines “rape culture”, describes gender-based violence as intersectional, and provides directions for media in reporting on sexual violence, including interviewing skills, preparation, right of the interviewee and the language used to describe the issue (from the perspective of gender-based violence). It also provides statistics with respect to incidence of sexual violence in Chicago/Illinois and nationwide.

General Overviews - Continued

Citation / Summary
Jaffe, P., Dawson, M., and Campbell, M. (2011). Lessons Learned from Domestic Violence Tragedies: Emerging Research, Policies and Practices to Prevent Domestic Homicides. Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women and Children. / This paper summarizes key ideas and recommendations from a national think tank on the prevention of domestic homicides in London, Ontario. Forming effective domestic violence death review committees, conducting risk assessments, managing risk, engaging the family court, working with vulnerable populations, and enhancing the role of the workplace in addressing domestic homicide prevention were highlighted as critical issues to address.
Read, T., and Cross, P. (2009). Life beyond shelter: toward coordinated public policies for women’s safety and violence prevention. Phase III. Toronto ON: YWCA. / Report on community consultations at all government levels to identify areas of change and policy recommendations. Recommendation highlights: implement coordinated policies through a coordinated response. The report identifies broad positive initiatives that should be expanded. These include: women’s advocates, violence awareness and prevention programs, and professional education on violence against women.
Alberta Roundtable on Family Violence and Bullying. (2004). Finding Solutions Together. Report presented to government. / This report was designed to take the next step following the Roundtable on Family Violence and review of the Framework for Action. The report outlined key areas for action, including social change, provincial leadership, a collaborative, coordinated community response, services and supports and accountability.
Hurlburt, W., and White, W. (2003). Discussion Draft to the Minister of Children’s Services. Responses to Family Violence. / This paper is a response to the government’s request regarding thoughts on: Alberta’s current legislation and policy for the prevention of family violence; ensuring that services to women and children are comprehensive and of the highest standards. Recommendations included a need for a strong conceptual basis guiding responses; legislation allowing for a free flow of relevant information; coordinated and integrated response; continuance of the Domestic Violence Courts and response teams; availability of counselling or treatment of violent partners across the Province; improved court and Child Welfare Authority response to custody and access cases where domestic violence is present; and continued support for women’s emergency shelters with uniform standards.
Calgary Domestic Violence Committee, September 2003. Calgary’s Response to the Discussion Draft to the Minister of Children’s Services: Responses to Family Violence by Judge White, W., and Hurlburt, W. QC. / This document represents a response to a paper written for the Minister of Children’s Services . The document addresses four broad issues: the need to develop a common philosophical framework including a broad and inclusive definition of family violence; the scope of the provincial response; treatment issues; and the need for a coordinated, community based response. The comments here are directed to support, enhance and in some instances broaden the recommendations included in the Hurlbert and White report.

1. Statistics and Definitions

Citation / Summary
Younglai, R. (2016). The oil rout’s gender gap. The Globe and Mail (Alberta Edition), February 1, 2016. / The rout in commodities has hit men harder than women. Nearly 16,000 men in the western province have been laid off from September of 2014 through the end of last year. Meanwhile, 22,800 women have found new positions over the same period, according to Statistics Canada. Men are more affected than women by the downturn in Alberta. This is common in the early part of a recession. Later, the pain spreads from goods-producing industries, typically male dominated, to ancillary support industries in the service sector, more female dominated.
ACWS (2015). Alberta Provincial Shelter Data. / This annual data summary described women who are accessing shelters in Alberta over the 2014/2015 fiscal year. The report quantifies number of crisis calls, danger assessment scores, number of women and children accommodated, provincial admissions and turnaways, length of stay, and comparison of population growth to number of beds funded.
Alberta Government (2015). Focus on Violence Against Women and Girls. / This infographic summarizes the issues related to violence against women and girls, statistics on women served by shelters, number of women and girls who are victims of partner violence, and their descriptors, cost of IPV, and IPV as a root cause of a number of health and other issues, and vulnerability of marginalized populations to IPV. The information cited in the document is based on 2013 data.
Breiding, M., Basile, K., Smith, S., Black, M, Mahendra, R (2015). Centres for Disease Control and Prevention National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control. Intimate Partner Violence Surveillance. Uniform Definitions and Recommended Data Elements. / The document describes the problem of intimate partner violence and history of activities related to development of uniform definitions and recommended data elements. It provides uniform definitions for intimate partner violence and associated terms, as well as recommended data elements for record-based and survey surveillance of intimate partner violence. Data elements include identifying information, victim demographics, victims experiences (e.g., health, IPV, alcohol/drug use), current circumstances (children, living arrangements), perpetrator information etc.
Byrne, M. (2015). 1990-2015: 25 Years of Femicide. Prepared for Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH). / The report describes women who were killed in Ontario between the years of 1990 and 2015 that OAITH has documented from media reports. The report describes victim characteristics, offender characteristics, victim-offender relationship, characteristics of the femicide, geographic location. It also provides an analysis of media’s treatment of the homicides. The report concludes with recommendations for future research in the area.

Statistics and Definitions - Continued