from pillar to post: understanding the victimisation of women and children who experience domestic violence in an age of austerity

The dismantling of the welfare state across the United Kingdom (and indeed a number of other Western industrialised democracies, such as Canada and the United States) and the reductions to welfare provisions and entitlements are having a detrimental impact on women’s equality and safety. Towers and Walby argue that the recent cuts to welfare provision in the United Kingdom, particularly for women’s services, could lead to increased levels of violence for women and girls. This paper makes the argument that female victims of domestic abuse experience violence on two levels: first, at the intimate/personal level through their relationship with an abuser and, second, at a structural level, through the state failing to provide adequate protection and provision for women who have experienced violence in intimate relationships. Using a specific example of post-violence community services delivered to both the children of women who have experienced domestic violence and the women themselves, this paper draws on empirical research carried out in 2010–2011 with London-based third-sector and public sector organisations delivering the Against Violence and Abuse Project ‘Community Group Programme’. We argue that the lack of services for women involved in, or exiting, a violent relationship can amount to state-sanctioned violence, if funding is withheld, or indeed, stretched to breaking point.     

From motherhood to sisterhood: Attitudes of australian women MPs to their roles

Women have entered Australian parliaments in increasing numbers over the past decade and now form over 9 per cent of MPs. Whether their presence will make any difference to the public agenda depends largely on how they view their roles and accountabilities. This study, based on survey and other evidence, suggests that Australian women MPs fall largely into three categories. termed here mothers, individualists and sisters. Historically the first women to enter parliaments were the mothers, and today there are still a number of women MPs who see their primary responsibility as defending the home and family. During the 1960s the individualists appeared, who believed that gender should be irrelevant in politics. Today, by far the largest group of women in Australian parliaments are the sisters, with a feminist orientation towards their roles. Their impact on the public agenda, in particular the setting up of mechanisms for monitoring the differential impact of public policy on women and men is summarised. While these women have indeed made a difference, they are still largely excluded from key economic policy-making arenas. This in turn has undermined some of the legislative and policy gains which have been made. The lack of bipartisanship on status of women issues also threatens the long-term future of feminist achievements.     

From family to peer: A review of transitions of influence among drug-using youth

The research concerning relative and independent influences of family and peers upon adolescent drug use is reviewed. Although conflict between family and adolescents is one of the oldest, most predictable, and—in Western society—probably least avoidable of developmental conflicts, the sharp focus upon this conflict in the context of adolescent drug use is a more recent development. As interest and concern regarding adolescent drug use has grown, so has the research seeking to explain this behavior. Much of this research has focused upon the role of family and peer influence. After a brief review of the theories which support either the greater impact of family or peer influence on adolescent behavior, a more specific review of the literature concerning the role of these influences on adolescent drug use is presented. The outline of this presentation is derived from Kandel's theory of stages of drug use. Finally, a summary of research findings and specific suggestions for future research are made.Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Research Analysis and Utilization Review, Drug Abuse and the American Adolescent, September 1980, Rockville, Md.; and at the 88th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, September 1980, Montreal. Conclusions drawn are not necessarily those of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.Received an M.S. degree in communication research from the Boston University School of Public Communication, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in social and community psychology from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Major current interests are the role of the family in the drug use of one or more of its members, drug abuse policy research, and social ecological research approaches to the study of drug use.     

special guest contribution: violence against women as a barrier to the realisation of human rights and the effective exercise of citizenship

This article focuses on violence against women as a barrier to the realisation of women’s civil, political, economic, social, cultural and developmental rights, as well as the consequences of this for the effective exercise of citizenship. The value of adopting a citizenship lens, identifying the nexus between violence against women and human rights, and adopting an approach that acknowledges the multiplicity, intersectionality and continuity of violence across the public and private spheres serves to assist in identifying and providing an analysis of the continuing challenges in the quest to eliminate violence against women. Owing to the scarcity of literature that explicitly highlights the link between human rights, citizenship and violence against women, the current analysis highlights some of the existing literature on a situated understanding of citizenship through a women’s human rights lens, while the discussion on violence against women as a barrier to realising all human rights that enable the exercise of effective citizenship is largely underpinned by the work of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences.