Case study 3: Leading the way in evidence-building and best practice approaches
We lead the way in finding out what really works to keep women safe and healthy. By testing what activities and approaches are most likely to work, our research, models and tools help other organisations undertaking primary prevention work to succeed.
Key impacts
We provide the information needed to support other organisations to do effective primary prevention work. This includes producing up-to-date local sex-disaggregated data and the game-changing Victorian Women’s Health Atlas. This data helps people understand how health and safety issues impact men, women and gender-diverse people in different ways at a statewide and regional level.
We centre women’s voices and experiences in our research and co-design activities. We elevate the voices of those who experience additional societal barriers to being heard due to racism, colonialism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, and other forms of discrimination.
We are experts at translating theory into every day. We have decades of experience turning complex theoretical frameworks into accessible, fit-for-purpose tools and resources for different audiences.
We piloted some of Australia’s first primary prevention programs, including:
establishing regional partnerships to deliver coordinated action to prevent violence against women in every region of Victoria
whole-of-organisation prevention programs in workplaces, schools and other settings
nation-leading work on gender and natural disasters
in-language health literacy for migrant and refugee women
developing the country’s first accredited gender equality training.
The result
We have been testing and recording what works in primary prevention for more than three decades. This has helped shape what is considered the most effective way to do things and is now a crucial part of the state government's plans and strategies. Because of this, initiatives in Victoria are more likely to succeed.
What this looks like – examples of our work
Gender Equality Pilot Project
Women’s Health In the North lead the northern metropolitan Building a Respectful Community Partnership (BRC). BRC is currently piloting an approach for engaging schools in gender equity work, through the establishment of student action groups which foster an understanding of the links between gender equality and gender-based violence so that students can lead change in their schools and communities.
Community Sport: A Level Playing Field project
Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West leads delivery of ‘Community sport: A level playing field’, the first signature project of the region’s Respect 2040 gender equality alliance. The project supports a regional sporting assembly to achieve the Respect and equality in sports standards, implementing workplace organisational change actions to promote gender equality and prevent violence against women.
Long Story Short project
Women’s Health Goulburn North East and Women’s Health Loddon Mallee are working together to deliver the ‘Long Story Short’ project. The project brings together people with lived experience and professionals to co-design solutions to the regions’ specific sexual and reproductive health needs.
“At Gender & Disaster Australia (GAD) we are absolutely cognisant of the impact the women’s health sector (WHS) has on all the work we do … GAD brings together the WHS and emergency management sector. It helps find the synergies between health promotion primary prevention and emergency preparedness and response. We’ve worked together to find a common language and approach. We look at tailoring this work – not forgetting feminist frameworks but finding ways to bring the framework into the organisation. It’s a real partnership, bringing together knowledges for success”
“Partnerships with women’s health sector (WHS) organisations gives us an understanding of realities of prevention work grounded in community. Our relationship with the WHS gives us a more holistic picture and reminds us of the reason why we do this work.”
“It wasn’t only the preventing violence against women discussions that we were leading; we prepared the groundwork for the community approaches to gender, gender equality and applying an intersectional approach. For example, the work we did with councils around gender, including applying a gendered lens to all areas of local government responsibility. How councils talk about this today is vastly different to 10 years ago. They have those tools embedded and now that is being supported by the Gender Equality Act. We were preparing the groundwork to have more sophisticated discussions and for that work to evolve to what we have today.”