Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Looking at perpetrator programmes

Posted: 12 Jan 2015 05:49 AM PST

CRiVAS, project mirabal, A new trajectory for domestic violence perpetrator research and interventions?

Professors Liz Kelly from London Metropolitan University, Nicole Westmarland from Durham University and Charlotte Watts, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, have been investigating the extent to which perpetrator programmes reduce violence and increase safety for women and children, and the routes by which they contribute to coordinated community responses to domestic violence.

Called ‘Project Mirabal’, this was a research project carried out at Durham University’s Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse (CRiVA).

The research was started in 2009, concluded in late 2014 and a formal research launch takes place on 15 January 2015.

This research entered a contested arena where questions of methodology and policy direction have reached something of an impasse.

It was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Northern Rock Foundation pilot phase also received funding from LankellyChase Foundation and the Home Office.

By re-casting the research question beyond 'do they work?’, addressing the limitations of previous studies, and introducing innovative directions in analysis they hope to create a new trajectory for domestic violence perpetrator research and interventions.

Project Mirabal's aims and objectives were to investigate the extent to which perpetrator programmes reduce violence and increase safety for women and children, the routes by which they do or not produce effects alongside the overall contribution programmes make to coordinated community responses to domestic violence.

Within these overarching aims were a number of more specific objectives.

To measure change among men who have used domestic violence:

Measure the range of effects (through indicators of success) of community based UK perpetrator programme activities on the women and children linked to 600 men referred to programmes over a 12 month period; and

Compare the range of effects (through indicators of success) with a matched comparison group of 200 men who have not participated in any programme;

To discover what enables men to change:

Document and evaluate how programmes engage perpetrators in a change process;

Examine and control for site effects, different modalities for programme delivery;

Identify what helps men to engage and to remain engaged;

Explore and account for change in men who do not complete or attend programmes; and

Identify whether pro-active sustained support to partners makes a difference to perpetrators.

To innovate in research methods and research practice:

Develop more nuanced measures of effectiveness through a set of 'indicators of success';

Apply new methods of analysis, specifically critical incident analysis and survival analysis (these are statistical and thematic ways of analysing research data);

Reflexively engage in practitioner initiated research, building collaborative practices which ensure the study will be more valid, rigorous and useful without compromising the independence and integrity of data collection and analysis; and

Draw on contemporary gender theory in developing analytic frameworks.

To locate community based perpetrator programmes within co-ordinated community responses to domestic violence:

Document the development of community based programmes in the UK and compare to other jurisdictions;

Map the domestic violence arenas at study sites, locating programmes and referral routes within this;

Examine what programmes add to a co-ordinated community response;

Identify the characteristics of men who participate in community based perpetrator programmes.

And to address two neglected areas in the knowledge base through linked PhDs:

Integrate children’s safety and well-being across the research design, whilst also devoting a PhD to this emerging issue;

Research programme process and integrity, including how group work 'works’ and for whom, and how gender is performed by leaders and participants; and

Qualitative data collection, including critical incident analysis, with a sub-sample of 60 men on two occasions and their partners on four occasions.

Two conferences are being held to mark the end of this research, one on 13 January in Stoke Newington Town Hall, the other on 15 January in Durham Town Hall.

To see the list of publications released so far, click here.

Campaign against stereotyping

Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:57 AM PST

Let Clothes Be Clothes, gender stereotyping, children's clothing, campaignChallenging the restrictive gender stereotypes used in the design and marketing of children's clothes.

Let Clothes Be Clothes campaigners are concerned about the split of colours, themes, motifs, slogans and fit into for girls or for boys; any child caught crossing this divide faces negativity, bullying and pressure to conform – simply for exploring their own interests.

Let Clothes Be Clothes are a group of retailers, makers, activists and parents who have come together to challenge the restrictive gender stereotypes used in the design and marketing of children's clothes.

Gender marketing means the exploitation of social norms or the manipulation of stereotypes around ‘this is what girls like’ and ‘this is what boys like’.

In reality, children are children – and we create inequality by convincing girls and boys from year dot that they are different to each other.

These gender stereotypes deny children the chance to explore, to learn and to make their own choices.

As a society, we should allow children the freedom to choose their own interests, and make that choice as wide as possible.

One of the key areas Let Clothes Be Clothes want to tackle is ensuring children's clothes are age appropriate.

This isn't about taste, or being prudish – this is about respecting the fact children are not small versions of adults, and deserve a childhood free from sexual messages.

In practice it is vital, but it is problematic because many of us are desensitised to seeing sexualised images and clothing.

In 2011 the UK government released the Bailey Report that described sexual images and themes as 'the wallpaper to children's lives'.

Many recommendations were made, as was voluntary code of conduct led by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – which many of the UK’s high street giants belong to.

Let Clothes Be Clothes also want to deal with issues around sizing and fit, as there is a stark contrast between what is offered to girls and offered to boys across the high street spectrum. Such as shorter shorts for girls, slim fit or cropped T-shirts and narrower shoes.

There are many physical and psychological consequences of gender marketing.

The most obvious example of this is shoes with high heels, wedges or fashionable dolly designs. They are lambasted by chiropodists and podiatrists for damage to growing feet, ligaments and posture – but are widely available as casual wear on the high street, most notably for girls.

Boys are offered more practical – yet often dull in appearance – footwear options.

Let Clothes Be Clothes strongly believe in letting children be children, and that means clothing and shoes that are made for active and positive childhoods, not based on adult fashion or trends.

The campaigners’ core aims are:

To raise awareness and challenge the use of exploitative gender stereotypes used in the design and marketing of children's clothing;

To call on all retailers in both the UK and Ireland to commit to positive and healthy childhoods by providing clothes and shoes that are age appropriate;

To monitor the high street and respond to examples of clothing and shoes that are detrimental to a child's equality, health or natural development;

To call on retailers to remove all labels and signage that split collections into for girls or for boys;

To work with small businesses, makers and organisation to encourage a unisex approach to the design and sale of children's clothing;

To encourage all retailers to create a unisex category online, listing clothes by type and size, rather than girls or boys;

To disseminate information relating to the cultural and negative aspects of gender stereotypes used in children's clothes and shoes.

And as allies of Let Toys Be Toys and supporters of Pinkstinks, Let Clothes Be Clothes would like to promote like-minded campaigns and create a broad network that will bring about a cultural change.

Please see the ‘get involved‘ section on the Let Clothes Be Clothes website to see how you can get involved.