ARC Gender Relations: Gender-transformative and intersectional approaches to violence prevention

ARC Gender Relations is a primary prevention of violence project on Bundjalung Country in the Northern Rivers Region of NSW. The ARC team have been working together since 2018, using gender transformative and intersectional feminist frameworks to deliver a broad range of innovative primary prevention and early intervention initiatives. The ARC project seeks to challenge underlying beliefs, attitudes and social systems that enable violence in our families and communities.

ARC has delivered workplace development and training; established an ongoing community of practice for community sector/mental health workers who work with men; developed group programs and facilitated these group programs for men; and coordinated a community development, violence prevention and allyship project with male-identified people in the region. The ARC team emphasise personal self-reflection and organisational development as a core part of their efforts to prevent men’s violence against women.

A snapshot of the project can be found here.

Outcomes of ARC’s work:

  • Facilitating men to engage in a process of self-reflection regarding gender stereotypes, accountability, safety, power, privilege and entitlement
  • Increasing participants’ knowledge about gender stereotypes, gender equity, respectful relationships and violence as an expression of masculinity
  • Empowering community participants to be change agents
  • Supporting men to engage with other men in the community to foster better understanding of gender stereotypes and gender equity
  • Increasing levels of understanding of sector professionals about how stereotypical gender relations impact the workplace and ways to work effectively with men
  • Increasing sector knowledge about integrating gender transformative approaches into professional settings

For further information, please find a link to ARC’s Website here: https://menandfamily.org.au/arc-about/

ARC Communities project

The ARC Communities Project was a community development project coordinated by ARC Gender Relations in 2020-2021. It was fundamentally a grassroots violence prevention project with a focus on allyship. Local men were trained and supported to develop their own violence prevention projects, which they then delivered within their own communities. The project was guided by the HealthWest Partnership resource, developed by Shelley Hewson-Munro: Working Together with Men: How to create male allies for gender equity in your community. The ARC team found people who were already interested in working towards the prevention of DFV, and tried to build on their passion and interest. Once the group was established, the allies participated in 15 hours of training which covered the key areas of defining violence; gender inequality; unpacking the drivers of violence; exploring the socialisation of men and constructs of masculinity; and exploring how men can use their power and influence to become allies in the prevention of violence.

Find more information about the ARC Communities Project here. The report contains a more detailed outline of the project’s accountability process and links to the projects developed.

Contacts:

Sarah Drury sarah@menandfamily.org.au

Hunter McBride hunter@menandfamily.org.au

Lisa McPhie lisa@menandfamily.org.au