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use and social norms relating to both violence and gender can
help create a more supportive environment for other prevention
activity. Research is limited on the impact of other drugs on
violence against women, but similarities might be expected
where a drug has similar effects to alcohol, and is also used in
the context of gendered socialisation and power differentials.
Some analyses also place extreme socio-economic
disadvantage in this category, because of its perceived
impacts on pro-social behaviour, but the complexity of such
disadvantage arguably has broader impacts and is considered
separately below.
8. Socio-economic inequality and discrimination
The probability of violence against women is higher when
the consequences of gender inequality intersect with the
impact of other forms of inequality and discrimination, such
as racism, discrimination against people with disabilities
or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or
gender identity. Any factor that, in addition to the gendered
drivers outlined above, reduces or limits women’s access
to resources, the social and economic power they hold, or
the perceived worth of some groups – such as Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander women, lesbians or transgender
people, or women with disabilities 89 – increases the
probability of violence against them. Women in communities
affected by multiple forms of adversity and discrimination
may also be reluctant to report violence to the police
because they lack trust in authorities, or because the
perpetrator is part of their own community and they do not
wish to breach the solidarity of already fragile communities.
In such communities there may also be a lack of investment
(or a disinvestment) in systems, organisations and
institutions, such as law enforcement, designed to maintain
accountability.
Women’s attachments to, or solidarity with, men may be in
tension with their desire to support other women, or claim
their own right to safety. Women in groups or communities
experiencing discrimination and marginalisation, especially
where the unity of the family is particularly valued, 90 may be
particularly reluctant to report violence perpetrated by men
in their communities because they fear it will exacerbate
community stigma and unfair treatment of those men. 91
9. Backlash factors
(when male dominance, power or status is challenged)
Research is inconsistent on whether factors such as socioeconomic
inequality and discrimination, along with low
educational levels, rapid social and economic change, and
other social stressors, 92 increase the probability or frequency
of violence against women. While some studies find a
correlation, others find none. Many also rightly warn against
the risks of drawing conclusions that disadvantaged
communities are inherently violent, or alternatively undermine
accountability for violence in particular circumstances.
Any analysis must account for why most men in such
circumstances are not violent against women, and women
are not more likely to be violent under such circumstances.
Increases in violence against women under such conditions
are best understood in conjunction with backlash theories that
point to the (often aggressive) resistance to change that occurs
in societies where existing or expected power differentials
and hierarchies are challenged. For example, when gender
relations are based on a hierarchical model where women play
a subordinate role, violence may be used and accepted as a
mechanism for maintaining this dynamic, especially when it
is under threat. 93 Men who have fewer economic and social
resources relative to their partners (whether in the form of
employment, education or income) have been shown to be
more likely to perpetrate violence against women, but this is
primarily among men holding stereotypical beliefs about their
roles as ‘providers’. 94 Men with fewer resources than their
partners who hold more egalitarian beliefs about gender roles
do not have a greater risk of perpetrating violence. 95
Violence against women is also more likely to be supported
where women are perceived to have breached socially defined
feminine roles, such as when women’s education increases
relative to men. 96 Studies also show violence against women
increases in societies undergoing rapid economic change,
and where women begin to play a more prominent role in paid
work and civic society. 97 Together, this suggests that violence,
or the threat of violence, may be used in such circumstances
to re-establish the previous ‘gender order’, one that is often
perceived to be ‘natural’ or ‘traditional’.
Such research demonstrates that backlash is to be expected
as part of the change process, and should be planned for in
prevention practice. While women’s and girls’ empowerment
must remain central to prevention activity, strategies to address
backlash, particularly by directly engaging men and boys in the
change process, are crucial.
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