Policy Analysis Report: National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women

This report provides a comprehensive policy analysis of the 'National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010-2022', employing the 'What's the Problem Represented to Be?' framework by Bacchi (2009). The analysis begins with an introduction to the policy, outlining the rationale for its implementation, which stems from the high prevalence of violence against women and children in Australia. The report defines key terms such as violence against women, domestic violence, and family violence. The background section details the formation of the National Council, its consultation process, and the subsequent recommendations leading to the National Plan. The core of the analysis involves addressing key questions, including identifying the problem representation as violence against women and children, exploring the underlying assumptions such as ineffective criminal justice systems and socio-economic factors, and examining how this representation has come about through historical and societal contexts like alcohol and drug use and child abuse. The analysis also considers what aspects of the problem are left unproblematic, the silences within the policy, and alternative ways of thinking about the problem. Finally, the report discusses the discursive and subjectification effects produced by the policy's representation, including the stigmatization of men. The report concludes with an evaluation of the policy and potential future recommendations, supported by over twenty references.

National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
NATIONAL PLAN TO REDUCE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR
CHILDREN 2010-2022.
By (name of student/author)
Course code+name
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
INTRODUCTION
Reason for National Plan policy.
Reducing all violence in our community is a priority. All forms of violence against women are
unacceptable, in any community and in any culture. It is everyone’s responsibility to reject and
prevent violence. Any form of violence should be prevented at all costs by taking personal
responsibility (Baird et al., 2018).
In an effort to end violence towards women and children, the National Plan policy has been
formulated. This aims at two major forms of violence: the sexual assault violence and, domestic
and family violence directed to women and their children in Australia (Bartels et al.,2018).
Australian Bureau of statistics in 2005 indicates that the prevalence of violence against women
and children has been recognized by 98% of the total population and indigenous females are
prone victims than other women. Perpetrators of these crimes range from known to unknown
individuals. Due to the difference in the forms of violence, different approaches are to be
employed in addressing them. This violence has both high financial costs and negative emotional
effects. Commonwealth reports in 2009 indicate that over $13.6 billion are spent on treating
violence victims (Beutler and Fenech, 2018).
The National Plan has come into the knowledge of the diversity in the needs of women and thus
has established different approaches to be used in addressing them (Childress et al.,2018).
Definitions
Violence against women: an action that is gender-based that results to harm in women either
physically, sexually or psychologically in a private or public environment (Childress et al.,2018).
Domestic violence: are harmful actions between the closely related persons. Example, husband
and wife.
These crimes include physical, sexual and psychological. Physical violence can be in a form of
stabbing, slapping, beatings and others. Sexual violence can be in form of rape, playing of
pornography and others. Psychological violence is emotional abuse such as continual
humiliations (Childress et al.,2018).
Family violence: is the violence among the family members informs of physical, sexual and
emotional violence.
The main element of violence entails controlling the victims against their consent by instilling
fear or harm to them that makes them submissive and defenseless (Chowdhury et al.,2018).
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
BACKGROUND
In May 2008, the National Council was formed by Commonwealth with the aim of reducing
violence against women and their children by giving advice on the suitable and appropriate
measures to be taken (Colombini et al.,2018).
The National Council was tasked with the responsibility of coming up with an evidence and
community consultation-based program for minimizing such crimes. Also, to assess other
research that has been conducted, scrutinize the performance of the legal system and the effects
of violence on the economy (Eisenbruch, 2018).
Over 2000 Australians from every state were consulted through discussions, interviews, and
review of their work on violence against women and children. After intensive consultation, the
council made its recommendations on the plans of reducing these crimes in the Time for Action
report called The National Council’s Plan for Australia to Reduce Violence Against Women and
their Children, 2009
‐2021. It was recommended that all governments should consent to a long-
term program of reducing women and child-based violence led by the Commonwealth. The
agreement was made and the Australian government pledged $42 million to fund the
recommendations such as setting up of online counseling services of victims, a creation of
respect programs in learning institutions, promotion of youth social marketing campaigns
telephones for reporting women-based violence. This initiative taken by the government and
commonwealth towards supporting efforts made on reducing violence against women and
children forms a foundation for this National plan (Denborough, 2018).
POLICY ANALYSIS
The policy has been analyzed using the WPR approach. This aims at interpreting the policy
conventionally. The policy analysis has been subjected to different questions below in order to
establish the proposals to be changed (Jahan, 2018).
1. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM REPRESENTED TO BE?
The main problem represented in this policy proposal is the violence against women and their
children.
Various sources have given reports on the problem of violence against women and children.
Among them is the Australian Bureau of Statistics which states that 98 % of the Australians are
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
aware of the high magnitude of violence against women and children in various forms which
majorly include the physical and sexual assaults. The reports also indicate that the indigenous
women and children are the main targets. (Larsson, 2018).
This violence has led the government into spending a lot of resources against these activities.
(Nistotskaya and Stensöta, 2018). To support women and their children in fighting violence against
them, the community awareness on the law reforms regarding incriminating domestic actions
have been established to inform victims of their rights as well as warn the common perpetrators.
The reforms that have been made regarding gender respect and relationship, especially on the
respect of children and women, are to be implemented in all areas despite the residences whether
being refugees or legal residents
2. WHAT PRESUPPOSITIONS OR ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLIE THE VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN?
The problem presented has the various underlying factors which are the potential causes (Tiwari et
al., 2018). Among the causes are:
Ineffective criminal justice system.
It is reported that the victims of physical and sexual violence prefer to seek help from elsewhere
such as friends rather than the criminal justice system. This is on the claim by the several victims
that their issues are not being exclusively addressed by the law since the system since the system
treats indifferently the perpetrators of physical and sexual violence with other types of criminals.
(Powell and Webster, 2018).
Social-economic causes.
The gender inequality brings the concept of social acceptance, masculinity and traditional gender
responsibilities in the Australian community. The status of women in the community is very low
to the extent that they cannot report any cases of abuse done on them. These socio-cultural
factors give men more authority than women and children and therefore making them become
the victims of violence. (Signorelli et al., 2018).
Poor infrastructure and facilities for responding to the violence.
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
There is no proper communication and emergency service delivery to the physical and sexual
violence victims. This lack of support to the victims of violence prevents them from exposing the
perpetrators of the crimes and therefore resulting in a continual increase of violence in the
community (Sullivan and Carraher, 2018).
3. HOW HAS THE REPRESENTATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND
THEIR CHILDREN COME ABOUT?
This helps in establishing the origin of the violence against women and children.
The origin of violence against women and children traces back to the family, which is the basic
social unit. It is considered in many cultures that women and children are inferior in society and
therefore even if abused, they do not have any right to protest. This, therefore, has created a
culture justifying the propagation of violence against women and children (Tiwari et al., 2018).
These include:
Use of alcohol and drugs-The drinking habits enhances the aggressiveness and control
behaviors in the perpetrator. The report from ABS in 2011 indicate that in one year, 49% of
women in indigenous communities are victimized by men using alcohol and drugs (Varley and
Western, 2018).
History of child abuse- the reports from Personal Safety Survey in 2015 indicate that those
women who earlier on in their childhood stage had become victims of domestic or sexual
violence have the higher chances of becoming victims in adulthood. This was attributed to their
inability to report the perpetrators and perception of abuse as a normal act (Varley and Western,
2018).
Separation and pregnancy- The pregnant and separated women are highly vulnerable to
domestic violence than those not pregnant and unmarried. The men majorly tent to view the
pregnant and separated women as weak vessels thus suitable preys (Wickramage et al., 2018)
Community attitude to violence- the research conducted by the Office of Status of women in
2011 indicates that men who have low levels or no support for gender equity have the strongest
attitude supporting women violence. It was also discovered that women do not consider it a
violence when a man apologizes or regrets after abusing her (Varley and Western, 2018).
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
4. WHAT IS LEFT UN-PROBLEMATIC IN VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND
THEIR CHILDREN?
It is normal to emphasize the requirements that allow specific problem representations to
succeed, while others are silenced. This question focuses on gaps and limitations possible in
problem presentation (West et al., 2018).
Law reforms.
There has been a reform on rape and sexual assault law to make sure that the legal system is
highly sensitive to the issues related to sexual violence. The law on domestic violence has been
updated to cover larger scopes of abuse as well as to empower the police force in intervening.
There is a formulation of new laws protecting women and their children against sexual and
physical violence (Wheaton and Thorpe 2018).
Relationship counseling services.
Development of social inclusion programs to educate the family members on family
relationships, improvement of family social status through social and financial support (Beatton
et al.,2018).
Support programs.
The use of Indigenous Family Safety program and supporting agenda has been applied to support
women and children from native communities to access health, police and housing services
(Barragan and Harper, 2018).
THE SILENCES.
The policy has placed strategies on how to realize its success in reducing the violence against
women and their children. In the vision and targets, the government aims at achieving this by
2022.
There is a change of law to incriminate the perpetrators of sexual assaults and physical violence
against women and children while the approaches and strategies for implementing the same laws
in all territories on the basis of social class differences and cultural diversity are not addressed
(Wheaton and Thorpe 2018).
POSSIBILITY OF DIFFERENT THOUGHT ON THE PROBLEM.
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
The approaches used to reduce the physical and sexual crimes should focus on both the men who
are major perpetrators and woman who are the major victims. Educating men on the effects of
such actions will help in preventing the cause rather than treating the result.
The laws formed should be publicized so as to make the public aware. This is to prevent
victimization of the men individuals on the basis of protecting women and children (Beatton et
al.,2018).
5. WHAT EFFECTS ARE PRODUCED BY REPRESENTATION OF THE VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN?
Discursive effects
Many of future directions by the government agencies such as department of justice and health
service providers aim mostly at providing justice and medical services to the victims of domestic
and sexual violence especially women and their children instead of addressing the main cause of
the violence through identification and education of the perpetrators of the crimes (Powell and
Webster, 2018).
Subjectification effects.
The national plan to reduce violence against women and their children policy has set various
reforms on the health and judicial departments aiming at fighting violence against women and
their children. The main suspects and targets in the violence against women and their children
are the men. This policy, therefore, becomes disadvantageous to all men and stigmatizes them in
the community, even men that are innocent of the crime (Colombini et al.,2018).
Violence against indigenous women and their children by the legal residents have led to the
depression of these women and children who are the minority (Sullivan and Carraher, 2018).
Lived effects.
Violence against women and their children have rendered some of the victims helpless and
refugees due to the escape from the homes of violent partners. Such victims lead poor lives and
continuously depend on the aids of the well-wishers and government agencies, which are not
fully reliable (Beutler and Fenech, 2018).
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
Addressing the issue of violence against women and their children nationally will lead to
improved safety for victims. However, the victims in remote and inaccessible areas, as well as
indigenous victims, will not benefit fully from the services provided by the national government
agencies against violence. The victims at danger are those who have not been enlightened about
their rights of protection against physical and sexual assault violence. The victims of the violence
are to blame on their silence to report the violence cases against them by the perpetrators (Baird et
al., 2018).
6. HOW/WHERE HAS THIS REPRESENTATION OF THE VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN BEEN PRODUCED, DISSEMINATED AND
DEFENDED? HOW COULD IT BE QUESTIONED, DISRUPTED AND REPLACED?
The cases of violence against women and their children became dominant as evidently indicated
by the rising number of sexual assault and physical violence victims admitted to the hospitals
mostly being women. The Australian Bureau of Statistics states that indigenous women and girls
get hospitalized as a result of domestic violence 35 times than other women each year. This is
due to the disregard of the indigenous women and children rights and therefore fall victims of
violence. These groups of victimized women and children go silent after being victimized and
thus encouraging the continuity of the domestic violence crimes (Pomicino et al, 2018).
Various agencies established to reach victims of violence have employed various approaches
such as online counseling and emergency telephone lines for reporting sexual and physical
crimes. However, there is a challenge on the confidence of the victims on opening up. There is
fear of their personal information being made public and thus facing stigma, also, the fear of
reiteration of victimization by the perpetrator if she reports the case (Eisenbruch, 2018).
To support women and their children in fighting violence against them, the community
awareness on the law reforms regarding incriminating domestic actions have been established to
inform victims of their rights as well as warn the common perpetrators. The reforms that have
been made regarding gender respect and relationship, especially on the respect of children and
women, are to be implemented in all areas despite the residences whether being refugees or legal
residents (Thomas and Bull, 2018).
POLICY EVALUATION.
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
This paper is about the reducing violence against women and children by use of the National
Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children 2010-2022 policy.
The policy was analyzed using the WRP approach to identify the types of violence, suitability of
approach that has been employed, the consequences of employed approaches, gaps in the
approach and recommendations for future plans (Denborough, 2018).
FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS.
In the aim to reduce the violence against women and children, an education program majoring on
the behavior changes should be put in the plan. As this will improve on the relationship respect,
promote general parenting responsibility in both parents and enhance perpetrators understanding
of the effects of domestic violence hence being in a position of taking personal initiative towards
stopping the violence (Denborough, 2018).
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National plan to reduce violence against women and their children
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