Researching Gender Violence

Tina Skinner, Marianne Hester, Ellen Malos

• Publisher: Willan
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781134022540
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Criminología

In this edited collection leading authors in the field draw on their experience to address key methodological questions and challenges that have arisen from the recent proliferation of research projects and government funded initiatives on violence against women. Topics include: evaluation research and feminist methodology; using quantitative and qualitative approaches; ethics, safety and access in sensitive research; interviewing practitioners, perpetrators, policy makers, and survivors (including children, women and young people); utilising discourse analysis to interpret data; undertaking cross national and comparative research; practical guidelines for practitioners/academics wishing to consult with women survivors; gearing research to facilitate positive change in policy and practice; and using the media for dissemination. increased focus on gender related violence politically and academicallythis book addresses head on the complex methodological issues involvedleading experts in the field as contributors

Chapter 1

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Methodology, feminism and gender violence

Tina Skinner, Marianne Hester and Ellen Malos

In this edited collection members of the British Sociological Association’s Violence Against Women Study Group (the Group) draw on their experience to address key methodological questions and challenges that have arisen from the recent proliferation of research projects and government-funded initiatives on gender violence. This chapter provides the backdrop for this debate to unfold; paying particular attention to the changing contexts in which the Group now undertakes its research. There are three contexts that we felt were important to outline, address and review. The first is the development of law, policy and practice aimed at improving conditions for survivors. In this section we briefly highlight some of the important moments of the 1970s and 80s, before outlining the shifting set upon which politics and research around gender violence was played through the 1990s, including the Group’s optimism as New Labour came into power in 1997 and whether that budding potential has been fulfilled into the early 21st century. This leads to the second context, and a discussion of how government-sponsored research initiatives by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Violence Research Programme and the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme on Violence Against Women have impacted on feminist research in this field. The most substantial portion of this chapter is, however, dedicated to a reassessment of ‘feminist methodology’ in an attempt to ensure the continued high quality of feminist research on gender violence, and maintain and enhance its ability to shape debate and instigate positive change for survivors in the future.

Definitions

Before we embark on the main discussion points for this chapter, we wish to say a word about definitions. Definitions are not only important in that they help us to understand what is going on, they are also crucial in research on gender violence and violence against women that attempts to compare across countries or agencies. The 1993 United Nations World Conference on Human Rights defined violence against women as ‘any act of gender-based violence’ resulting or likely to result in harm to women, and occurring in the family, within the general community, and perpetrated or condoned by the State. This includes, for instance, domestic violence, rape and trafficking. Whereas domestic violence and rape are relatively non-contentious in being defined as ‘violence against women’ or ‘gender violence’, there has been much debate as to whether trafficking should be similarly defined. We would want to include both prostitution and trafficking as activities where violence against women is endemic. What is particularly useful about the UN definition is that it links different violences against women, which is important to understanding how such violence continues to reflect and also serves to maintain structural gender inequalities. We have to recognise, however, that definitions are related to specific time/space locations (Hester 2004). Thus in different countries and at different times there may be a focus on only certain forms of violence as ‘violence against women’. For example, until recently the focus in the UK was domestic violence. Ironically, this narrow emphasis has resulted largely from the success of women’s groups and others in placing domestic violence on the policy agenda and in forcing change in practice by the police and other governmental and non-statutory bodies and agencies. In order to create that change it was imperative that domestic violence was focused upon and campaigned on as a ‘single issue’, even if domestic violence is not separate from and indeed overlaps with other violences against women (Kelly and Regan 2000; Hester and Westmarland 2004). The unintended consequence, however, is that it has been more difficult to argue that resources should also be aimed at the ‘other’ forms of violence against women, though this is gradually changing.

There has also been a broadening of perspectives in research over time from using ‘violence against women’ as the inclusive term to using the term ‘gender violence’. Gender violence includes all types of violence against women in the UN definition but is not confined to violence against women; thus recognising violence against children, young people or lesbian and gay people. The significance in using the term lies in the assertion that the violence is in some way influenced by or influences gender relations. The term gender violence therefore includes: heterosexual and same sex domestic violence (physical, sexual, economic and psychological); rape and sexual assault; sexual harassment; prostitution and trafficking; politicised sexual and physical forms of torture and rape in war, civil, communal and inter-ethnic conflict; and violence where women may be the perpetrators but their involvement is still mediated by gender (see for example Corcoran, Chapter 7). This shift is one of the changing contexts in which research by the Group is now placed. Other contextual changes are discussed below.

Changing contexts 1: law, policy and practice

Key developments in relation to violence against women during the 1970s and 80s included the growth of the refuge movement (especially Women’s Aid) and movements against rape (especially Rape Crisis); and the growing visibility of sexual violence and domestic violence in public and media campaigns. There were changes in laws relating to sexual violence and to homelessness; the introduction of new rules on the questioning of rape victims about their sexual history; civil protection in cases of domestic violence; and changes in police policy and practice. These legal and policy changes were important in terms of principle even though they sometimes proved disappointing in practice.

By the 1990s, central government and statutory agencies had begun to play a more direct role, particularly at a local level and in relation to domestic violence, where there was a policy of multi-agency intervention. There was significant new legislation from the mid-90s, especially a strengthening of Civil Protection Orders for Domestic Violence (Part 4, Family Law Act 1996); and the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act with its wider focus and innovative approach to the relationship between civil and criminal justice. Both were developed under the then Conservative government, although any claim they might have to an overall policy and ‘mainstreaming’ of violence against women was counteracted by the failure to institute, for example, a multi-agency approach at governmental level. This was exemplified by the 1996 Housing Act, which in its original form would have had a catastrophic effect on the provision of safe alternative social housing for women and children escaping domestic violence (Malos 2000, 2003).

With the election of the New Labour government in 1997, it could be argued that some issues concerning gender violence have gradually moved towards the ‘mainstream’. Prior to the election, the Labour Party had issued a document, Supporting Women, which promised new policies and practice aimed at developing an overall intervention strategy on violence against women. New Labour then came into power and produced a promising policy document, Freedom from Fear (Women’s Unit 1999). Despite a somewhat stronger emphasis on domestic violence than on other areas of violence against women members of the Group were fairly optimistic about its potential for change (see Radford et al. 2000).

However, this emphasis by state and related agencies on violence against women – and in particular domestic violence – as a crime has had both positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, it can be seen as part of the success of pressure from women’s organisations and feminists that violence against women should be taken seriously. The shift has also been reflected in an increasing number of initiatives by the Home Office, police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). For instance, there has been concern to deal with attrition of rape and domestic violence cases through the criminal justice system, thus making ‘criminalising more effective’. The Home Office coined the term ‘justice gap’ to describe the difference between the number of offences reported to the police and the number of offenders who are sentenced for these offences; and Narrowing the Justice Gap (Justice Gap Taskforce 2002) provided a framework for action. There have also been new Guidelines for the CPS on dealing with domestic violence (CPS 2001), and recent thematic reviews by the police and Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorates addressing attrition in domestic violence and rape cases (HMCPSI and HMIC 2002; HMIC and HMCPSI 2004).

One especially positive area has been the first major funding by government of projects related to violence against women, through the Crime Reduction Programme (CRP), even if the funding was relatively short term (up to three years). The funding followed in the wake of the Crime and Disorder Act (1998). The Programme included financing work on domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, as well as prostitution. Altogether £250 million was spent by the Home Office on the CRP. Of this, £6.3 million was allocated in June 2000 to local agencies and multi-agency partnerships to develop and implement local strategies for reducing domestic violence, rape and sexual assault by known perpetrators. Thirty-four projects in total were funded, mostly related to domestic violence, and a small number to rape and sexual assault (including adults, young people and children). In December 2000 the Home Office awarded a further £850, 000 to fund 11 multi-agency projects which aimed to reduce the number of young people and women involved in street prostitution, ¹ to reduce crime and disorder associated with street-based prostitution and to find out which interventions helped women to exit prostitution (Hester and Westmarland 2004).² While emphasising policing and criminal justice approaches, these projects also involved many and varied ways of enabling disclosure, outreach, support and advocacy.

On the other hand, and less optimistically, there is the possibility/danger that criminal justice responses have become over emphasised – thus sidelining equally crucial aspects such as the support and advocacy work that has for so long been central to work with women and children experiencing men’s violence and abuse. For example, the development of Community Safety Units following the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act has allowed some local authorities to re-focus their work on only the crime-related aspects, and, effectively, sidelined any ‘non-crime’ domestic violence work which may have been developed in Multi-Agency Forums or by other multi-service initiatives – such as the projects funded by the Home Office itself through the Crime Reduction Project (see above). Moreover, CSUs have in some areas replaced Domestic Violence Units in the police, but without any guarantee that the new CSUs will include work on violence against women. In other areas, such as West Yorkshire, the police service has made local decisions to remove rape and sexual assault from centralised specialist policing units to be passed back to divisions who have limited if any training or experience to work with these issues. In this instance, both support for women and the ability for the police to investigate the crime effectively have been put in jeopardy.

There has also been a tendency for the government to establish policy documents and consultations that seem to promise a wider range of action than actual legislation delivers. This is exemplified by the consultation which proceeded the Domestic Violence Bill (2003). This consultation discussed a wide range of issues, but the White Paper that resulted was extremely limited by comparison. It focused only on further criminalisation of domestic violence (e.g. making common assault an arrestable offence). But the White Paper did not take the opportunity to create a statutory base for support, nor to include vital issues such as recognising post-separation domestic violence in the context of child contact. Thus it was based on a narrow ‘punishment’ agenda that appeared to take it for granted that the safety of women and children will inevitably follow.

Other changes have been welcomed, but their actual effects in practice have yet to be seen. For example, the Sexual Offenders Act 2003 has further decriminalised young people involved in prostitution, and redefined the term ‘consent’ in rape cases, but we await interpretation for the impact this will actually have in case law. The Children Bill is aimed at creating multi-agency structures for dealing with child protection/care, which is also potentially positive. The worry from our perspective is that the structures being suggested would parallel those involving domestic violence, but may not necessarily intersect with these. Thus all the good work to link Domestic Violence Forums and Area Child Protection Committees could easily be lost.

Contributors in the previous volume in this series (Radford et al.2000) pointed to the changing political context – and most particularly the hopes engendered by the election of the New Labour Government in 1997 as ‘opening new doors to collaborative working with state agencies’ (ibid. : 4) both in terms of research and practice. This was indeed the case. It was also noted that caution and strategic thinking would be necessary if this was to happen ‘without losing sight of feminist visions and understandings’ (ibid. ). If anything this analysis has been strengthened in the intervening period.

Changing contexts 2: recent research initiatives on gender violence

The Home Office Crime Reduction Programme

Prior to the Crime Reduction Programme initiatives outlined above, the Home Office had commissioned independent reviews to assess the existing knowledge base regarding ‘what works’ in reducing violence against women, in particular domestic violence (Taylor-Brown 2001). These reviews indicated the scarcity in the UK of an existing evidence base regarding best practice. The Home Office provided further funding for all of the 45 projects on violence against women and prostitution (discussed above) to be independently evaluated, with the aim of producing a new body of knowledge concerning ‘what works’ in tackling violence against women. Overviews of the evaluations were also commissioned by the Home Office (Hester and Westmarland 2004; Hester and Westmarland, forthcoming). Given the emphasis on research methodology in this volume, it is important to say something here about the evaluation approaches used in relation to the CRP projects.

Evaluation is based on comparison and seeks to find out the extent to which any improvements noted may be directly attributable to interventions used. The ‘purest’ form of evaluation, the experimental approach involving random controlled trials (RCT), was deemed...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Notes on contributors
• Dedication
• 1 Methodology, feminism and gender violence
• 2 Feminist quantitative methodology: evaluating policing of domestic violence
• 3 Researching people in power: practice, analysis and action
• 4 Researching Asian children's experiences of domestic violence: the significance of cultural competence and shared ethnicities of participants in the research process
• 5 Conducting social research with young people: ethical considerations
• 6 Comparison and collaboration: researching young people's experiences and perceptions of violence in the family across China and the UK
• 7 Researching women political prisoners in Northern Ireland: ethnographic problems and negotiations
• 8 Listening to women's voices: the participation of domestic violence survivors in services
• 9 Researching violent fathers
• 10 Balls and permissions: theorising the links between football and domestic violence
• 11 In memoriam: Sue Lees (1941-2002), her life, research and influence
• Index