Anglicans lead on Intimate Partner Violence
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is the most common form of family violence used against women in Australia and takes place across all cultures and faiths.
With little statistical data available, the Anglican Church of Australia decided to take the magnifying glass to its own congregation – recognising that much good work was already being undertaken, the question was whether there were insights to be gained into the nature and prevalence of IPV, and to shed light on the implementation of more effective responses.
The Church embarked on a two year project - three in-depth research reports into the prevalence of IPV, a study of clergy and lay leaders, and one-on-one interviews to capture personal experiences within our community. The research, commissioned by the Church and conducted by NCLS Research, produced 28 top line findings, which included:
The prevalence of IPV among Anglicans was the same or higher than in the wider Australian community.
Women were much more likely than men to have experienced IPV.
Most Anglican victims of IPV did not seek help from Anglican Churches, but for those that did most reported that it positively changed the situation or helped them feel supported.
Clergy and lay leaders were well-informed about breadth of IPV and understood that it was more men who commit violence.
Most clergy felt that having women on the pastoral team equips the Church to better respond to IPV.
Clergy confidence in their personal capacity to respond to IPV was low to moderate.
Perpetrators’ misuse Christian teachings and positional power.
“As a Church, we grieve with the victims and survivors of IPV, we pray for healing and recovery, and we commit to doing more to prevent it happening,” said Reverend Tracy Lauersen, Convenor of the Anglican Church of Australia’s Family Violence Working Group.
In response to the research findings, the Anglican Church has developed and endorsed 10 Commitments to improve the way IPV is addressed within its faith community - focused on cultural change, education, training and support.
H/Advisors APA was engaged to leverage the research to lift the veil on IPV and highlight how broad the problem is across the country and also within the Anglican Church. Our role was to assist with disseminating the findings in an open manner and to spark public and policy debate around changes needed across Australian society.