Preventing violence against women: An XY collection of key reports and reviews

There is an excellent international literature on how best to prevent and reduce men's violence against women. It includes major, systematic reviews of effective practice in this field. In this XY collection, we present key reports on and guides to prevention practice. They are listed below - click on the title to download each in full text (PDF).

Also see:

Key works

Arango, Diana J., Matthew Morton, Floriza Gennari, Sveinung Kiplesund, and Mary Ellsberg (2014) Interventions to prevent or reduce violence against women and girls: a systematic review of reviews. Women’s Voice and Agency Research Series, No. 10, The World Bank: Washington DC.

DeGue, S., Valle, L. A., Holt, M. K., Massetti, G. M., Matjasko, J. L., & Tharp, A. T. (2014). A Systematic Review of Primary Prevention Strategies for Sexual Violence Perpetration. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19(4): 346–362.

Edwards, K. E., & Banyard, V. L. (2018). Preventing Sexual Violence among Adolescents and Young Adults. In D. A. Wolfe & J. R. Temple (Eds.), Adolescent Dating Violence: Theory, Research, and Prevention (pp. 415-435). London: Academic Press.

Ellsberg, Mary, Diana J. Arango, Matthew Morton, Floriza Gennari, Sveinung Kiplesund, Manuel Contreras, and Charlotte Watts. (2014). Prevention of violence against women and girls: what does the evidence say? The Lancet, 20 November 2014. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61703-7.

Flood, Michael. (2014). Current Practices to Preventing Sexual Violence and Intimate Partner Violence. In Critical Issues on Violence Against Women: International Perspectives and Promising Strategies, Eds Holly Johnson, Bonnie S. Fisher, and Véronique Jaquier, Routledge (pp. 209-220).

Fulu, E., A. Kerr-Wilson, and J. Lang (2014). What works to prevent violence against women and girls? Evidence Review of interventions to prevent violence against women and girls. Pretoria, South Africa: Medical Research Council, 51 pp.

Graham, L. M., Embry, V., Young, B.-R., Macy, R. J., Moracco, K. E., Reyes, H. L. M., & Martin, S. L. (2019). Evaluations of prevention programs for sexual, dating, and intimate partner violence for boys and men: a systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 1524838019851158

Heise, Lori L. (2011). What Works to Prevent Partner Violence? An Evidence Overview. London: STRIVE Research Consortium, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Jewkes, R. (2014). What works to prevent violence against women and girls? Evidence review of the effectiveness of response mechanisms in preventing violence against women and girls. Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa.

Kerr-Wilson, A.; Gibbs, A.; McAslan Fraser E.; Ramsoomar, L.; Parke, A.; Khuwaja, HMA.; and Rachel Jewkes. (2020). A rigorous global evidence review of interventions to prevent violence against women and girls. Pretoria, South Africa: What Works to prevent violence among women and girls global Programme.

Michau, L., Horn, J., Bank, A., Dutt, M., & Zimmerman, C. (2015). Prevention of violence against women and girls: lessons from practice. The Lancet, 385(9978), 1672-1684.

Our Watch. (2021). Change the Story: A shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women in Australia. Melbourne: Our Watch.

Remme, M.; Michaels-Igbokwe, C.; Watts, C. (2014). What works to prevent violence against women and girls? Evidence Review of approaches to scale up VAWG programming and assess intervention cost-effectiveness and value for money. Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa.

Ricardo, C., M. Eads, and G. Barker. (2011). Engaging Boys and Men in the Prevention of Sexual Violence: A systematic and global review of evaluated interventions. Pretoria, South Africa: Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) and Promundo.

Spangaro J, Adogu C, Ranmuthugala G, Powell Davies G, Steinacker L, et al. (2013) What Evidence Exists for Initiatives to Reduce Risk and Incidence of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict and Other Humanitarian Crises? A Systematic Review. PLoS ONE, 8(5): e62600. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062600.

World Health Organization / London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. (2010). Preventing Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Against Women: Taking action and generating evidence. Geneva: World Health Organization.