Evaluating How Socioeconomic Status Contributes to Domestic Violence in Australia

Research proposal | SOAD9206 Social Work Research in Practice
Settings
2019
S1
Name: Ishpreet Kaur
Student ID: 2196960
Topic: SOAD9206 Social Work Research in Practice Settings
Assessment: Research Proposal
EVALUATING HOW
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
SUCH AS AGE, EMPLOYMENT
AND INDEPENDENCY
CONTRIBUTE TO DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE IN AUSTRALIA.
Outline:
This research proposal aims to understand the concept of domestic violence against. This
submission provides background information about nature and prevalence of violence against
women in Australia. This research also includes the socio and economic factors contributing to
domestic violence again women. Economic abuse is when one intimate partner keeps a control
on the other partner. Domestic violence is an issue that is affecting to million around the world.
The main focus of this research paper is to consider the basic knowledge of literature reviews in
order to understand the issue.
According to World Health Organization (2012), domestic violence has many different
categories such as physical, sexual and psychological abuse which are used by men against
women and children.
Background

Research proposal | SOAD9206 Social Work Research in Practice
Settings
2019
S1
Australia has high rate of violence against women by intimate partners which is also called
domestic violence. In recent times, the policy makers, governments and researches viewed the
issue of domestic violence against women as a strong focus with a result that this is affecting
women. During the past decade, the governments and policy researchers have found a
profound transformation in public awareness and domestic violence has now recognized as a
serious human rights abuse which has also concerned health problems among society. There
are various form of domestic violence such as physical, sexual, emotional, verbal abuse,
economic, dowry harassment, wife inheritance and so on (Alston & Bowles, 2003). The
percentage of the research about the violence against women was higher than the violence
against men. Despite the laws, rules, regulations and reforms, domestic violence is increasing
around the world. Later 19th century, the domestic violence against women has also increased
internationally with recognizing the different forms of abusive behavior.
With the global research, it is indicated that there are 35% of women who are the victims of
domestic violence or partner sexual violence throughout their life (WHO, 2012). Intimate partner
violence is indicated as the serious form that has a strong impact on women experiencing
violence. There are around 28% of Australian women who have experienced violence by their
current or previous partner. Women who become the victims of inequality due to race, gender,
disability, age or socio-economic status often experience domestic violence and barriers in
order to seek for help and support.
Research Question
Research proposal is made with a good research question which is specific, clear and which
also helps in achieving the aims and objective and provides a framework which is linked in
nature. Research question is framed with the theoretical knowledge and the background of the
previous research. The research questions helps in identifying the importance of ethics,
boundaries, limitations, concepts, issues and dimensions and also helps in collecting suitable
date of the study.
The research question for the following proposal is “Evaluating how socioeconomic status
contributes to domestic violence”, “examining how socioeconomic status such as age,
employment and independency contribute to domestic violence in Australia”. This questionnaire
is developed with the help of facts and the literature review. The main goal of this project is to

Research proposal | SOAD9206 Social Work Research in Practice
Settings
2019
S1
evaluate and examine the factors such as age, employment, and independency of socio-
economic background which contributes to violence against female population of Australia.
Definitions:
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ‘refers to all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic
violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or
partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the
victim’ (Downes, Kelly & Westmarland, 2014). INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE (IPV) ‘refers to
any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm
to those in the relationship’.
Literature review:
The following literature study of research proposal highlights the central theme of various socio-
economic factors which causes domestic violence in present world. The literature review
addresses the question directly and indirectly. Many studies have revealed that women are
major victims of domestic violence because of their poor income status and deprived
independency and empowerment. The following research study focuses on the female and
children participants of our present society who becomes the victims of violence in Australia due
to lack in their socio-economic status and resources.
Australian studies have identified the evidence that identifies violence against women with
socioeconomic status. The studies have found that there is higher risk of violence against
women due to social and economic disadvantage. According to Australian research, it is stated
that people living in non-English-speaking countries have negative attitude towards domestic
violence and adults face violence in general than those living is Australia (Dartnall & Jewkes,
2013).From 2005-2016, the percentage of women facing violence in the lives remained stable.
According to a safety survey conducted in 2012 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that
there are around 87% of women who have faced violence by someone known to them. Socio-
economic status refers to the social and economic positions of an individual or groups of
individual which can be measured for the family, community/area or household. Relative
socioeconomic advantage and disadvantage can be explained in terms of social resources and

Research proposal | SOAD9206 Social Work Research in Practice
Settings
2019
S1
also the abilities they participate in the society (Dartnall & Jewkes, 2013). There are also some
measures like proxy measures that include income, consumption, education and employment.
Socioeconomic status can be changed through time and population with the relative importance
of other concepts. Income, consumption, wealth, education and employment are the key
concepts which are used to measure socioeconomic status. One concept that precedes socio-
economic status is poverty. Poverty is the concept that has a greater focus on lack of access to
economic resources. Poverty is generally defined by the individuals who cannot fulfill their basic
needs such as food, clothing and shelter. People with poverty come under low socioeconomic
status. Socioeconomic status has a negative impact on individual’s mental and physical well-
being. It also brings the health and mental problems in the lives of individual. Contrasting many
health problems, there are social characteristics that define risk for violence by intimate partner.
Poverty can be counted as the exception that increases risk towards violence. It also defines the
relationships that are full of conflict where the conflict can be occurred due to finances, jealousy,
and women’s gender role and also alcohol consumption increases the risk of violence by a male
member again the female member in the house (Devries et al., 2013). If women are more
empowered educationally, emotionally and socially are more protected but on the other
perspective there is still the risk of violence at the time of crisis of male identity who has the
power to control women and where the violence is socially accepted as a norm.
With poverty, socioeconomic status also indicates minimum qualification, ill-health and low
income. In the lives of women, it is stated from the research that women has to face the
situations due to socio-economic status and also there are some cases when women are
depressed and leave their abusive relationship because of economic circumstances. Studies
and research show that women prefer living with their partners and in the abusive relationships
because they have limited skills and are dependent on their husband that can further bring their
standard of living below the poverty line (Trinh et al., 2016). Economic impacts define domestic
violence that creates the complex issues for women and children that impact for a long term in
their lives. There are many women who face financial risk or poverty as a result of domestic
violence that affects the key areas of their life such as accommodation, health, banking and
bills, employment, social security and child support. Some researchers argue that the main
methods to domestic violence in Australia have been crisis oriented and focused on providing
accommodation, welfare assistance, and emergency support services to women and children.