Gender focus a flaw on violence | Great to see national coverage for the fact that science has debunked the feminist narrative on the causes of domestic violence: not "patriarchy", but rather alcohol, mental illness & poverty.

EricAllonde · 2019-10-20T06:59:05+00:00

A major study of domestic violence shows it is significantly linked to alcohol and poverty, contradicting government policy focusing on gender equality as the key to eradicating the problem, leading researchers say.

The Australian Institute of Criminology study collected data from 39 previous research reports on domestic violence and found a third of offenders had been drinking or were drunk, and alcohol significantly increased the severity of violence. The study also concluded violence was concentrated among a relatively small group of repeat offenders, and in more disadvantaged areas.

Those findings highlight fundamental flaws in government policy, which pays little attention to alcohol, mental illness or poverty, says Peter Miller, head of Violence Prevention and Addiction Studies at Deakin University. He criticised the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children for its focus on educating people about gender equality and respectful attitudes.

“I haven’t seen any evidence that that’s a solution to violence,” he said. “The system is broken and we need a better response. We don’t need another TV ad about gender equality.”

The report comes amid growing concern that reported incidents of family violence have increased in the nine years since the national plan was launched. Former NSW Liberal minister Pru Goward said recently she despaired at the ineffectiveness of current strategies to promote “respectful attitudes”. Jess Hill, in her book See What You Made Me Do, described such policies as “horribly inadequate”.

Troy McEwan of Swinburne University of Technology, a forensic psychologist who works with perpetrators of violence, said the AIC report showed the need for a wider strategy to tackle the drivers of violence against women. Gender-related issues were important but the focus on them meant other factors were often ignored, she said, noting the authors of the new report had struggled to find studies that examined the role of mental illness.

“There hasn’t been an enormous amount of research on mental illness as a driver, and I think that’s because the large bulk of the research is framed within a wider dialogue around patriarchal systems,” Associate Professor McEwan said.

“If the theoretical perspective you take is that violence against women is caused wholly by gender inequality, there’s not a lot of reason to look at other things.”

Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, the country’s peak body on violence against women, identifies gender equality as “pivotal” to reducing violence. ANROWS chief executive Heather Nancarrow disputed the view issues such as substance abuse were not being addressed. She said although ANROWS identified gender equality as a priority, many prevention initiatives addressed other contributors, including issues faced by perpetrators.