Qualitative assessment
| Output 2.2 Administered items |
Performance indicators |
| Partnerships Against Domestic Violence |
The extent to which feedback from stakeholders, researchers
and the general public indicates that activities have assisted
in raising community awareness and reducing incidence of domestic
violence.
The extent to which activities have developed innovative and effective
responses from services and systems that address violence.
The extent to which the initiative has progressed the development of a
sound evidence base to inform policy development. |
| National Initiative to Combat Sexual
Assault |
The extent to which feedback from stakeholders indicates that
activities are effective in raising community awareness of sexual
assault.
The extent to which the initiative has progressed the development of a
sound evidence base to inform policy development. |
| Informed Choices for Australian Women |
The extent to which feedback from users and participants shows
that input and access to government research data and information
for, and about, women has improved. |
| National Leadership Initiative |
The extent to which feedback from stakeholders indicates increased
commitment to women's participation in leadership positions. |
| Women's Development Programme |
The extent to which feedback from non‑government organisations
and other relevant stakeholders indicates satisfaction with OSW's
support for women's organisations and its research and development
projects. |
| Other Women's Programmes |
The degree of satisfaction of stakeholders, with the quality
and usefulness of research and activities undertaken. |
| |
Administered expenses—$24.9m |
Methodology
Formal and informal feedback—received from the Prime Minister's
Senior Adviser (Women's Affairs); the Minister Assisting the
Prime Minister for the Status of Women and her advisers; the Parliamentary
Secretary; the departmental Executive; representatives of women's
organisations, state and territory governments, and Australian Government
departments; and individual women—informed the qualitative assessment
of the department's work on women's programmes administered
under Output 2.2.
Feedback
Evaluation of the Partnerships Against Domestic Violence initiative
(PADV) and the National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault indicated
a strong, supportive community response to both programmes. Positive
feedback in relation to the initiative was also received from members
of the PADV Taskforce and Australian Government and state and territory
ministers.
OSW conducted evaluations of all projects funded under the Women's
Development Programme. The findings indicated that the projects had
been successful and well received by women's non‑government
organisations (NGOs).
Feedback received from the national secretariats indicated that arrangements
were working effectively, contractual requirements were being satisfactorily
met and there was a commitment by the secretaries to progressing priority
issues under the programme's recommended consortia model.
Honouring Women continued to gain excellent feedback through its promotion
by high-profile women acting as ambassadors for the initiative.
During 2003-04, the first full year of their implementation,
feedback on the women's data warehouse and internet portal developed
under the Informed Choices for Australian Women initiative was constructive
and encouraging, in terms both of technical attributes and content.
An evaluation of the women's data warehouse is due to be undertaken
in 2004-05.
Key results
Key results for each appropriation administered under Output 2.2 in
2003-04 are described below.
Partnerships Against Domestic Violence
The $50 million PADV initiative has been highly effective in gathering
knowledge about, and trialling new ways of, preventing and responding
to domestic violence.
Through a partnership between the Australian Government and state
and territory governments, a number of projects have been undertaken
to investigate ways of preventing and responding to domestic violence.
In 2003-04 funds were allocated to:
- the development and testing of resources to assist front‑line
workers to identify and respond to the effects on children of witnessing
domestic violence
- research into ways of working with men who use violence
- two projects aimed at improving women's services in the areas
of accommodation and outreach options and the integration of work
between community agencies
- the continuation of the National Indigenous Family Violence Grants
Programme, to build the capacity of indigenous communities to find
and implement solutions to deal with domestic violence. This included
providing additional funding to four successful existing projects
to enable them to continue or expand their activities.
Reports from these projects will be available in late
2004.
OSW continued to fund the Australian Domestic and Family
Violence Clearinghouse to provide a single point of access to research
and data. The clearinghouse also undertakes valuable research in the
area of violence against women and produces topic and research papers
of high quality. The clearinghouse received over 65,000 hits per month
on its website during the year.
The meta evaluations of the two funding phases of PADV
were completed during 2003-04. Both reports are available on
the PADV website.
National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault
The $16.5 million National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault (NICSA)
has focused on establishing a sound evidence base to ensure that policy
and service responses to sexual assault are the most effective possible.
To this end, in 2003-04 OSW commissioned:
- a data analyst at the Australian Institute of Criminology to work
on criminal aspects of sexual assault. In 2002-03 the data
analyst completed a report on recidivism of sexual offenders; in
2003-04 the data analyst began a study examining factors influencing
prosecutorial decisions to proceed with or discontinue prosecutions
or enter into charge negotiations in sexual assault cases
- consultants Urbis Keys Young to develop, in consultation with stakeholders
across Australia, a national framework for sexual assault prevention,
to be available by the end of 2004
- the ABS to develop a personal safety survey, a repeat of the landmark
1996 Women's Safety Survey, with results to be published in
2006
- the ABS to implement a key conclusion of the bureau's 2003
Sexual Assault Information Development Framework, by drawing together
existing sources of data on sexual assault in a new publication, ‘Sexual
Assault in Australia: A Statistical Overview', to be completed
before the end of 2004.
Also under the NICSA, OSW established the Support for Victims of People
Trafficking Programme, to provide individualised support to victims
of trafficking in persons. Following an open tender process, a case
manager, Southern Edge Training, was contracted to deliver the programme.
Through the NICSA, OSW provided sponsorship funds towards the Home
Truths: Stop Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence National Conference
being organised by the Victorian Centres Against Sexual Assault, and
continued funding the Australian Institute of Criminology to coordinate
the International Violence Against Women Survey.
In September 2003, having been commissioned to do so by OSW in 2002-03,
the Australian Institute of Family Studies established the Australian
Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault, to encourage sharing of research
and best-practice approaches across jurisdictions.
Public awareness activities
Both the $50 million PADV initiative and the $16.5 million NICSA have
contributed funding to public awareness raising activities, and a number
of campaigns have been conducted over the lives of the two initiatives.
The government has provided additional funding of $6.7 million ($5.1
million in 2003-04 through the supplementary additional estimates
process and $1.6 million in 2004-05 through the 2004-05
Budget) to enhance this awareness-raising function. The Violence
Against Women: Australia Says NO campaign, designed to effectively
deliver the very strong message that violence against women is totally
unacceptable, was launched on 6 June 2004.
The campaign comprises:
- a nationwide, purpose-built helpline, counselling and referral
service, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide
practical help and support to women experiencing violence
- television, radio, cinema and magazine commercials
- a booklet reinforcing the main message of the campaign—the
unacceptability of violence against women—while providing practical
advice and information for children, their parents and the community
- a dedicated website
- other associated materials (for example, materials have been tailored
for people from non‑English speaking backgrounds, Aboriginal
people and Torres Strait Islander people).
Informed Choices for Australian Women
In the 2001-02 Budget the government provided funding of $5.5
million, payable over four years, to develop a women's information
strategy under the Informed Choices for Australian Women initiative.
This resulted in the development and implementation of the women's
data warehouse.
The data warehouse (www.windowonwomen.gov.au) is a unique single reference
point designed to provide free web‑based access to comprehensive
statistical data about women. It provides data on employment, health,
education, training and income support, and gives NGOs, students, government
departments and the community free, easy access to data and research
about women.
The ongoing maintenance and development of collections, and addition
of new data, continued in 2003-04. From November 2003 to May
2004, the average monthly number of site visitors was 2,097 and the
average monthly number of hits on the website was 117,900.
In May 2004, OSW commenced an evaluation of the women's internet
portal. The portal (www.women.gov.au) provides a single point of access
to government information for and about women. The evaluation will
provide an opportunity for users to contribute to the continuing improvement
of this facility.
OSW also produced a number of research papers exploring key issues
affecting women. The papers were distributed to a range of interested
bodies, including NGOs, schools and libraries.
National Leadership Initiative
In the 2001-02 Budget the government committed funding of $2.4
million, to be delivered over four years, to maximise, sustain and
promote women's leadership potential and participation, focusing
on non-elite roles for rural, indigenous, marginalised or disadvantaged
women. Funding of $496,000 was allocated for expenditure in 2003-04.
The key components of the initiative are as follows.
- The Executive Search service, available through the AppointWomen database,
assists the government to appoint highly skilled women to Australian
Government boards and advisory and decision-making bodies. Women
currently occupy 33 per cent of positions on Australian Government
boards and bodies.
- The Honouring Women initiative encourages the nomination of women
for national awards and honours. The initiative is led by a number
of high-profile ambassadors, including the Hon Dame Margaret Guilfoyle
DBE and the Hon Joan Kirner AM as Lead Ambassadors. While the number
of women being nominated for and receiving honours has grown since
the start of the initiative, there was a slight decline in women's
representation in the 2004 Queen's Birthday honours list.
- The initiative sponsors projects to increase the participation
of young women and indigenous women in decision-making activities—including
the Sports Leadership programme, which provided around $210,000 to
23 individuals and 45 organisations in 2003-04. The programme
encourages and supports the full involvement of rural and regional
women and girls in all aspects of sport, with a particular focus
on indigenous women in sport, women working in disability sport and
women in general sports leadership.
A digital video entitled Look where Science can take you,
for students from years 8 to 11, was developed under the initiative
to encourage young girls to consider careers in science. The video
is to be used by career advisers and will be distributed in late 2004.
Women's Development Programme
In the 2001-02 Budget the government provided additional funding of
$5.6 million over four years to expand and enhance government support
for women's organisations through the establishment of the Women's
Development Programme (WDP). This funding was in addition to the $500,000
per year provided through the National Women's Non-government
Organisation Funding Programme and would bring the total funding for
the women's development to $7.6 million over four years. Funding
of $1.5 million was allocated for expenditure in 2003-04.
One of the WDP's key components is providing project and capacity-building
grants to women's NGOs, to help them strengthen their existing
capacity and pursue projects that contribute to public policy. In 2003-04
the WDP provided grant funding, totalling $518,561, to the 14 projects
listed in Table 4.
WDP also provides funding to NGO training and mentoring projects;
in 2003-04, the WDP provided funding, totalling $149,800, to
the 14 projects listed in Table 5.
Another core element of the WDP is supporting the four secretariats,
which collectively represent around 59 national women's NGOs,
or approximately 40 per cent of the women's sector across Australia,
and many individual women. In 2003-04, $600,000 was provided
to help them continue to represent the diverse views of Australian
women, inform national and international debate and discussion on policy
issues affecting women, and relay information about government programmes
and policies to and from their members.
Table 4 Grants to women's non‑government organisations
| Organisation |
Funding |
Project goals |
| Australian Federation of Medical Women |
$50,000 |
To develop and deliver a communication skills workshop (augmented
with tools such as a video and handbook) for health professionals
who treat female cancer patients from culturally and linguistically
diverse, indigenous or geographically isolated communities. |
| National Foundation for Australian
Women |
$50,000 |
To extend the Women on Boards initiative (which seeks to place
women on the boards of non‑profit organisations) to include
for-profit organisations, by establishing networks and identifying
organisations and individuals to take part. |
| National Women's Justice Coalition |
$50,000 |
To strengthen indigenous women's leadership skills—in
order to encourage public policy input, enhance violence prevention
and support the work of indigenous women in non‑profit community
legal services—through the identification of information
technology training needs for 40 workers and implementation of
information technology mentoring. |
| National Council of Single Mothers
and their Children |
$50,000 |
To develop resources, policy approaches and a network of organisations
to assist women negotiating children's issues after separation,
as well as to support research and publish web‑based resources. |
| ZONTA International District 24 |
$50,000 |
To examine the impact of ageing on businesswomen and professional
women, in particular during the middle years of their lives, through
research on issues such as causes of mid‑career burnout;
and to develop positive strategies for individuals, aimed at informing
broader policy development. |
| Australian Federation of Medical Women |
$49,225 |
To develop a training manual and workshop to support the improvement
of medical service delivery by increasing female medical trainees' awareness
of their rights in relation to gender-related training issues. |
| National Foundation for Australian
Women |
$48,068 |
To broaden awareness of Women's History Month—among
women's organisations, regional institutions, schools, community
groups, journalists, and individual women and girls—by utilising
an existing website, and developing knowledge cards for schools
and the public, a media kit, and an on‑line forum. |
| Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Nurses |
$41,843 |
To collect and publish in various forms the history of indigenous
nursing in Australia, while building the research capacity of the
organisation and its members. |
| Women's Action Alliance |
$15,000 |
To obtain in‑principle agreement from relevant state and
territory education authorities to the broad dissemination, and
distribution to secondary school careers advisers, of information
regarding mothering, the most challenging career of all, and other
family matters. |
| Australian Multiple Birth Association |
$25,000 |
To undertake a review of the association and its practices,
to facilitate a restructure, and introduce policy procedures manuals,
a strategic business plan and related sponsorship programs, communications
strategies, a new association logo, and updates to the existing
website. |
| Australian Women's Motorsport
Network |
$25,000 |
To identify and develop skills, mentor/train women to mentor
others in rural or regional areas, and train two project managers
to train others. |
| Project Respect |
$25,000 |
To strengthen Project Respect to better respond to opportunities
to address trafficking in women for prostitution, and to support
trafficked women by developing a business plan, a policy and procedures
manual, and a membership management plan, to enable the group to
become self‑sufficient and able to work on raising awareness
of, and eliminating, violence against women. |
| Australian Breastfeeding Association |
$24,425 |
To raise the training, leadership and management standards of
volunteers within the Australian Breastfeeding Association, so
as to increase its effectiveness in the community, through an upgrade
to its training system, the development of on-line tools and resources,
and the production of a training resource kit. |
| Women's Industry Network for
the Seafood Community |
$15,000 |
To prepare a membership development plan, conduct a skills audit
and set up a database of members, so as to encourage member participation. |
Table 5 Grants to women's training and mentoring projects
| Organisation |
Funding |
Project goals |
| Jesse Street National Women's
Library |
$1,500 |
To host a celebratory event for the centenary of women's
voting. |
| Country Women's Association in
Tasmania |
$10,000 |
To host the Associated Country Women of the World's twenty-fourth
Triennial World Conference. |
| National Pioneer Women's Hall
of Fame |
$5,000 |
To develop a ‘signature quilt', containing over
350 signatures of women who have excelled in their fields, to celebrate
International Women's Day. |
| Regional Women's Advisory Council |
$5,000 |
To develop the Women on the Move community capacity-building
initiative, which supports women's involvement in community
development and regional development activities. |
| Dragons Abreast ACT |
$5,000 |
To host the Warrior Women breast cancer awareness exhibition. |
| Hinchinbrook Community Support Centre |
$3,500 |
To sponsor a guest speaker to launch the centre's under-age
sexual relationship community awareness and education campaign. |
| International Network on Feminist Approaches
to Bioethics |
$5,000 |
To support indigenous women to attend the 2004 Feminist Approaches
to Bioethics Conference. |
| Townsville Maritime Museum |
$4,800 |
To permanently establish the Women's War exhibition
at the museum. |
| Professor Robert Connell |
$16,000 |
To provide specialist advice for Australia's participation
in CSW 48. |
| Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre |
$59,000 |
To sponsor four indigenous women to participate in the centre's
Leadership Diploma Course. |
| Pan Pacific and South East Asia Women's
Association |
$5,000 |
To develop a history of the association to coincide with the
fiftieth anniversary of its foundation in Australia. |
| Australian College of Rural and Remote
Medicine |
$10,000 |
To provide funding for the Women in Rural Practice leadership
workshop. |
| Independent Scholars Association of
Australia |
$2,000 |
To sponsor a publication on gender relationships and the promotion
of women in pre-federation Australia. |
| Country Women's Association of
Australia |
$18,000 |
To arrange seminars on obtaining funding for NGOs. |
Other Women's Programmes
In 2003-04 the government provided funding of $785,000 for Other
Women's Programmes (OWP), which embraces a range of projects
to assist and advance the status of Australian women. Research activities
commissioned by OWP in 2003-04 included:
- the development of the third issue of Women in Australia,
providing an up-to-date range of statistics about Australian women's
lives. The issue is the final in this series of the Women in
Australia publications and will be published before the end
of 2004.
- the continuation of the Time Use Fellowship programme, with the
appointment of two new fellows. An evaluation of the programme, which
produces gender-based analyses of ABS time use data, will be conducted
when those two fellowships are complete.
- the continuation of a study into the underlying reasons behind
the fertility decisions made by men and women. A final report is
due next financial year.
- the release in July 2003, in conjunction with Austrade, of Women
in Trade, a publication that provides a snapshot of the resources
available to businesswomen considering entering the export market.
This publication is widely available and can be accessed via the
Austrade website.
OWP funded the distribution to schools and libraries of materials
commemorating the Centenary of Women's Suffrage, including a
series of publications highlighting historical milestones in women's
struggle to achieve the right to vote and stand in national elections.
A number of other publications, events and awards were also funded
under OWP, including:
- a newsletter for women
- a publication outlining the government's achievements for
women
- celebrations held to commemorate International Women's Day
- events held to commemorate White Ribbon Day
- the Women in Business Divisional Award and the Migrant Women in
Business Award, sponsored by OWP and presented each year by the Australian
Micro Business Network. These awards raise community awareness and
recognition of the important roles that women, including migrant
women, play in the Australian business community.
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