Screaming Underwater: Survivor Activism, Co-production and the Limits of Formal Engagement in Gender-Based Violence Policy
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Monash University
Australia -
Monash University Australia
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Monash University Australia
Abstract
Survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) are increasingly engaged in the co-production of public policies and services, yet marginalised survivors remain largely excluded from shaping the decisions that affect them most. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 11 survivor advocates and activists from First Nations, culturally and racially marginalised, LGBTQI+ and disability communities in Australia, this article examines what works for survivors in terms of driving policy change. We find that collective activism outside state structures is more empowering and effective than formal co-production within state structures. Participants are clear about what needs to change, demanding self-determined community solutions, a fundamental shift from “victim-fixing” to perpetration prevention and genuine transfer of resources and authority to those most affected. These demands go well beyond what existing co-production frameworks are designed to deliver and reveal those frameworks as potentially reproducing the colonial and patriarchal power relations they purport to address.
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Author Biographies
AustraliaDr Lisa Wheildon (she/they) is the Research Lead at No to Violence (NTV), where they oversee a portfolio of projects focused on advancing policy and practice responses to gender-based violence. Lisa leads research that integrates evidence and practice to illuminate men’s trajectories into and beyond the use of violence, with projects spanning youth intimate partner violence, digital innovation, practitioner resources for technology-facilitated abuse, and cross-sector collaboration. Lisa also partners in initiatives to enhance domestic and family violence data in military and veteran families and leads the development of national guidelines for researchers working in the area of men’s perpetration of domestic and family violence. Their PhD examined the role of gender-based violence survivors in shaping public policy and services.
Asher Flynn (she/her) is a Professor of Criminology at Monash University and Chief Investigator on the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, where she leads the technology-facilitated violence workstream and is Deputy Lead of Research Ethics & Training. Asher receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (project number CE230100004). She is an award-winning researcher in policy and prevention concerning gendered, sexual and technology-facilitated violence and has shaped almost a decade of research, theory and measurement of these global phenomena.
Abby Wild is a research fellow at BehaviourWorks Australia, in the Monash Sustainable Development Institute at Monash University, where she works on a range of environment and social inclusion projects with government and industry partners. Her research uses participatory methods to engage with various stakeholders and combine those insights with theoretical models to develop behavior change interventions. She is currently engaged in projects related to narratives of disadvantage, engaging culturally and linguistically diverse communities and nature-based interventions to promote well-being.