Where is the evidence that as many women are guilty of domestic violence as men? I have not seen it. It is no good arguing that there are masses of abused men out there (at the hands of women) but are not included in the statistics for lack of reporting, then on the other hand arguing that policy should be evidence based.

The reason why these sorts of policies are geared around women and children is because that is where the medical evidence lies.

Men really need to get together and start raising awareness if the problem is greater than believed. I think there is also a perception that men are stronger physically and are not at risk in the same way. Of course that physical strength may mean a man who is not naturally violent won't defend himself on principle for fear of causing injury or beliefs around hitting women or fear of being accused of violence while defending themselves. Women are equally capable of abusing children.

There are many issues and while I strongly agree that these policies should not project a gender bias, there needs to some realism around who is most at risk from DV and it is women and children who present most with DV injuries. Children witnessing DV is also thought to do untold damage to development.

As I said earlier, there needs to be research into the causes of DV and much of it has to do with economic disadvantage and education and for victims, a way out.

Suzanonline,
"Russell et al (1999) identified that 48 per cent of community welfare professionals believe that up to 24 per cent of fathers physically abuse their children and 31 per cent of professionals believed that 24 per cent of fathers sexually abused their children. These figures are higher than the national statistics on child abuse and neglect and could influence how professionals develop a trusting relationship with most fathers."

http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/families/pubs/documents/working_men/sec2.htm

This is more than likely the reason why the propaganda of "women and their children" has continued to this present day.

It is done in the hope that the public, and also practitioners, will regard the father as almost always being the perpetrator, while the mother is the hapless protector of the children.

Studies undertaken into "who started it" usually show the woman as starting the conflict, up to about 70% of the time.

Not surprisingly, no such studies have been undertaken in this country to my knowledge.

Pelican says where is the evidence?

Erin Pizzey has been writing and talking for years.

Women emerge as aggressors in Alberta survey
67% of women questioned say they started severe conflicts

http://www.franks.org/fr01060.htm

Murray Straus, Gelles, Susan Steinmetz just name a few researchers.

There was a researcher at Charles Stuart Uni Wagga, but I don't know where his work has disappeared too.

However I think the statement by Michelle Obama about, if mama aint happy, then nobody is happy. Speaks volumes.

http://www.menshealthaustralia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1026&Itemid=79

http://www.menshealthaustralia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=920&Itemid=79

James
I don't see any evidence that women are more violent or more abusive than men. In fact the last link shows statistics support 1 in 3 victims as male. That means 2 in 3 are women.

The fact is the policy should not contain a gender bias and refer to DV victims not 'women and children' alone. While I agree this is a fairer approach I do not agree that women are the main perpetrators of DV violence as some of you are making out. The evidence in no way supports that stance even acknowledging a bias.

I'm not aware of research that claims women are more physically violent than men in families.

There is a lot of research that argues that physical violence is symmetrical, though the outcome of mutual violence is often worse for women.

There's also research into DV and IPV research that looks at researchers' gender bias, and how that affects results. After looking at these studies I no longer take statistics on this topic as gospel.

As the latest family law legislation has broadened the definition of DV and IPV to include emotional and psychological abuse, I don't think physical abuse is prioritized in that situation, but it is in the emergency room and police reports of course. Emotional and psychological abuse is also included in the National Plan's definition of DV.

There are mens' groups in Australia that have taken on the topic of abused men. They're usually greeted with howls of derision when they go public - something like what feminists had to overcome in the seventies and eighties.
Jennifer.

Suzie,
"It seems to me that if all these men are upset over all this violence against men, why aren't they doing anything about it?"

That's one of the issues that the m,uch viollified men's groups try to deal with. I don't think that men do as well with solidarity as some women seem to do. Men are socialised to protect women and children, that socialisation does not always stick but it's hard to get those who've not been on the wrong side of it to take it seriously. Combined with the massive misrepresentation of the issue that already hold the public dialog and it's an issue that's very hard to get others to take a stand about.

pelican, I've been posting references for years (http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=7309#112339) that show that the violence is close to equal in frequency if you take bias out of the collection methods. There are large numbers of studies available, not a lot for Australia that I'm aware of but one I've referenced a massive number of times is a good place to start
http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/dom/heady99.htm , it asks the question, the authors don't have any bias on the topic that I've been able to find.

The Dunnedin longitudinal study is also close to home http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/170018.pdf

This paper discusses the issue and gives a number of references http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/Dutton_GenderParadigmInDV-Pt1.pdf

The Mediaradar site has a lot of material on the issue, they are an advocacy site, as far as I can tell not attempting to denigrate all women but to highlight the issue's around the genderised portrayal of DV.

In the end I don't think the numbers matter that much, my efforts to highlight the equality aspect is because of the repeated use of the claim that men do almost all the DV so there is no need to do anything about the other. As typified by the Violence against Women - Australia Says No campaign. A deliberate strategy of portraying a completely one sided view of DV.

R0bert