Anne Summers AO | Dismantling Domestic Violence

Policy Impact: Changing a Bad Law

A mother and child stand hand in hand, their silhouettes cast against the golden sky as they bask in the warm glow of the setting sun, surrounded by the lush grass and vibrant plants of a summer

An enduring crusader against domestic violence, Professor Anne Summers was awarded a Paul Ramsay Fellowship to study the impact of domestic violence on single mothers and their children. What she found is the stark choice facing many Australian women: do they stay and risk the violence continuing or even escalating or do they leave and face the high probability of a life of “policy-induced poverty.”

Launched in July 2022, The Choice report used never-before published data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to reveal shocking evidence of the financial hardships Australian women face when they escape domestic and family violence.

A startling finding was that women who became single parents after escaping violent relationships were being driven into poverty after their Parental Payment Single (PPS) allowance was cut off once their children turned eight years old. Through her UTS research, Professor Summers helped lead the fight to change this law so that single parents can now continue to receive their PPS up until their child’s fourteenth birthday.

Selected Links

Research impact: How to change a bad law

Violence or poverty: A dire choice for many Australian women

Women who suffer domestic violence fare much worse financially after separating from their partner: new data

Recording: How do you change a bad law?

The Impact Ahead: Protection from Domestic Violence

Based at UTS Business School, Anne continues to focus on the pervasive impact of domestic and family violence in Australia, its broader economic implications and inequalities, and what government, policymakers and business can do to address this major societal issue.

Supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Professor Summers’ current program of research is investigating the impact of domestic violence on women’s employment, including why women exposed to domestic violence are shown to have a lower participation rate in the labour force, and how employment may reduce, or even prevent women’s exposure to domestic violence.

In addition, to measure the extent of violence in all its forms and in particular the characteristics of the perpetrators of such violence, Anne Summers’ program is undertaking the development of a new national longitudinal study to obtain key data on relevant social issues related to domestic violence.

This research will uncover data on modern forms of violence, such as technology facilitated abuse, coercive control and financial abuse — exposing to policy makers the changing face of the violence, the perpetrators, and the impact on women and children.

Armed with innovative data and research findings, as well as a vast network of collaborators from government to community, Anne Summers’ work will enable the next generation of advocacy for women and children, influencing policies that will help reduce and eventually eliminate domestic and family violence.

Selected Links

Understanding the broad social and economic impacts of domestic and family violence in Australia

The impacts of domestic and family violence: Our research projects