VicHealth framework for preventing violence against women

Preventing violence before it occurs is our framework for action on preventing violence against women.

Based on global evidence, the framework highlights the following three themes for action:

• promoting equal and respectful relationships between men and women
• promoting non-violent norms and reducing the effects of prior exposure to domestic violence
• improving access to resources and support systems.

Using this evidence, the framework outlines the need to implement a coordinated series of strategies and actions to effectively prevent violence against women throughout society before it occurs.

The framework discusses the determinants and contributing factors of violence across three different levels: individual/relationship level, community and organisational level, and societal level.

A framework for understanding violence

Societal: The culture, values and beliefs that shape the other three levels of the societal ecology.
Community/organisational: The formal and informal social structures that impact on a person.
Individual: The developmental experiences and personality factors that shape a person’s response to stressors in their environment.
Relationship: The intimate interactions a person has with others.

The culture, values and beliefs that shape the other three levels of the societal ecology The formal and informal social structures that impact on a person The developmental experiences and personality factors that shape a person’s response to stressors in their environment The intimate interactions a person has with others.

The framework emphasises the need to implement prevention strategies across these three levels. It explores how gender inequalities at every level of society have a profound influence on violence against women. It outlines the need for extensive and sustained action across multiple settings, in order to change the cultural conditions that allow violence against women to flourish.

Implementing the framework

By examining the causes of violence against women, the framework provides guidance in developing health prevention work in this field. It identifies population groups, preventive actions and their long-term benefits.

VicHealth’s overall violence prevention program draws on evidence to develop and implement interventions aimed at the whole population, as well as interventions in priority settings where harmful attitudes and behaviours are most powerfully formed or supported.

These settings include:

• local government and community services
• sport and recreation
• workplaces
• schools and young people