Preventing violence against women: Researching the development and evolution of an integrated CALD community family violence project

Violence against women is an endemic problem throughout the world with global estimates indicating that one in three women experiences physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime (United Nations Women, 2016a). This violence is frequently perpetrated by someone women know and trust, most often a male partner, ex-partner or other family member (United Nations Women, 2016a). Family violence, a component of men’s violence against women, 1 includes physical, emotional, sexual, financial and spiritual violence and has numerous impacts on the lives of women and their children, varying from physical injuries and mental health concerns through to practical consequences such as homelessness and unemployment (Webster, 2016). In the most severe instances of family violence, women, and sometimes their children, have been killed.