Strategic Alliance, a Way Forward for Violence Against Women

Abstract

This article attempts to describe the experiences of violated women and the struggles of social workers to contest violence against women in the Indian context. It begins with a brief account of an "indigenous model": the establishment of a service for violated women in India within the police force--the Special Cell on Violence Against Women. The article traces the strategic location, vision, growth, present position, expansion, and replication of the Special Cell in India, and discusses the necessity of working simultaneously with violated women, formal systems, and social structures; its contribution to the campaign for a Domestic Violence Act; and the resultant outcomes. The arduous nature of the work required for violated women and the women's own assessment of the Special Cells were accessed through a rigorous evaluation study, which is presented in the article, providing an answer and affirmation to the question: Why work with the Establishment--the State.

Effectiveness of secondary and tertiary prevention for violence against women in low and low-middle income countries: a systematic review

“…One study examining VAW units in police stations in India with quantitative outcome data was excluded from this review because it was a secondary source (citing data from another study and providing no information on methods), and the author informed the reviewers that the primary study is an internal document only [ 53 ]. However, the reported results suggest that most women (88.8%) were somewhat or greatly satisfied by the services they received, 40% gained confidence to seek additional services, and 21.5% reported reduced violence, suggesting that this intervention could have some value, but requires further study [ 54 ].…”

Relationship between interpersonal violence victimization and suicide risk in Indian college students: Does prior exposure to interpersonal violence also matter?

“…Beyond these proximal initiatives, our findings also point to the potential value of developing stronger and more effective distal programs that might help reduce exposure to IPV within Indian society in general (e.g. programs focused on reducing family/domestic violence; Dave, 2013).…”

Feminist Social Work

“…The TISS, with its rich history of developing context-appropriate social work intervention, embarked once again on exploring possibilities for intervention, by understanding the needs of women approaching the police, a first port of call, after the family and community (Dave, 2013).…”

“…Then, in 2005, following an evaluation of the Special Cells (a quantitative analysis of process work in 2005), the government incorporated the Special Cells into a state-funded program, leading to the expansion and replication of the Cells first in Maharashtra and then in seven other states 5 across the country. This was given validity under the new Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), 2005, an Act that the Special Cells had actively promoted in terms of the form of the definition of violence against women used, the role of Protection Officers as noted, and the role of service providers (Apte, 2004; Dave, 2013).…”

“…The Special Cell for Women and Children was started as a field action project of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India, in 1984 a deemed university set up in 1936 which had the first program of social work in India. It commenced as a service for violated women within police premises (Dave, 2013) and later took the shape of a state-run program within the police system.…”