Larry Saha Room, Haydon-Allen Building, Seminar Room HA2175.  Presenter: Tulika Saxena

Gender-based violence has been recognised in international law as a serious violation of human rights.  Among the plethora of violence that women face all around the world, perhaps the most prevalent and invisible is domestic violence. Globally it has been estimated that one out of every three women is abused in her lifetime by an intimate partner.  Despite the fact that about 60 countries have legislation in place to address the issue of domestic violence, the impact of these policies is still an under-researched area.  Most of these laws being civil laws, feminist scholars argue that their effectiveness is highly questionable.  In India, where the prevalence of domestic violence among women has been shown to range from 35% to 75%, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA 2005) has been implemented for five years.  However, progress to date shows huge variations among the States with respect to the mechanisms adopted and the resources invested.  In India, regular monitoring and evaluation of the systems and structures is being funded by UN Trust fund to End Violence against Women and is being carried out a the national level by the Lawyers Collective Women's Right Initiative (LCWRI) an Indian nongovernmental organisation.  But still a gap exists when it comes to evaluating outcomes at the end-user level.  Hence this research aims to address this gap and analyse the outcomes for the women who have accessed this Act over 24 months in two States of India.

Tulika Saxena has 12 years of experience as a development professional in India.  Having worked for international and Indian NGOs, she has managed the implementation of many development projects on gender issues in India.  Her PhD at ANU has been funded by the Australian Leadership Award of AusAid.