Community Attitudes to Violence Against Women Survey: A Full Technical Report

• NCJ Number: 226272
• Author(s): Natalie Taylor Ph.D.; Jenny Mouzos Ph.D.
• Date Published: November 2006
• Length: 164 pages
• Corporate Author: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Downloaded March 12, 2009

Annotation

This report presents findings from a community survey aimed to gauge contemporary attitudes held by the community in Victoria, Australia toward violence against women, provides indicators of change in community attitudes since 1995, and provides results from focus group research with the intent to complement the survey research.

Abstract

Highlights of survey results include: (1) feedback from participants in the Indigenous component indicated that while awareness about the problem had increase, domestic or family violence was not viewed as negatively by the community as respondents thought; (2) a large proportion of the community, both male and female held views that, domestic violence can be excused if it results from temporary anger or results in genuine regret, women going through custody battles often make up claims of domestic violence to improve their case, and rape results from men not being able to control their need for sex; (3) the vast majority of the community disagreed that force could be justified in any of the scenarios presented, except admitting to having sex with another man; (4) changes in attitudes since 1995 include: 20 percent of respondents in 2006 believed that both men and women equally commit acts of domestic violence compared with 9 percent in 1995, 14 percent in 2006 agreed that domestic violence is a private matter to be handled in the family compared with 18 percent in 1995, and 6 percent of respondents in 2006 agreed that women who are raped often ask for it compared with 15 percent in 1995; and (5) factors associated with attitudes toward violence against women include: sex, support for gender equality, socioeconomic status, age, and migration and settlement factors. A number of avenues were suggested in the pursuit of changing community attitudes to violence against women. This report presents results of a survey of the Victorian population on their attitudes to violence against women. A total of 2,800 persons were interviewed of which 2,000 were randomly selected members of the general community and 800 were members of 4 selected culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, referred to as the “SCALD sample.” Tables, figures, references and appendixes A-D