Two projects: 1. Review for AGENDA (completed in May 2014) which - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Di McNeish Di@dmss.co.uk

Two projects: 1. Review for AGENDA (completed in May 2014) which considered:  What are the risk factors affecting women and girls across the life-course?  What do we know about potentially effective support? 2. Current project for Lankelly Chase on developing a profile of SMD for women and girls

 There is no such thing as the profile of SMD  Different definitions lead to different profiles  It is important to surface the concepts which underpin the definitions and portrayals of SMD  Taking a gendered perspective is vital 3

 Partnership with Heriot Watt  Still work in progress  Desk review  Consultation with other researchers & service providers  Consultation with women with lived experience of SMD  Review of potential data sources 4

Possible approaches to conceptualising SMD:  The defined categories approach  The risk factors approach  Social inequalities/rights perspective  Capabilities perspective 5

 Agree the categories of disadvantage to be included and use available data to develop profile of those who appear in them  Advantages: provides clear definitions; if the data is available it enables profiling of those experiencing SMD  Challenges: profiles are dependent on the categories included; risks being data driven; profiles tend to be fixed in time 6

We asked women: Who are the most SMD women? What’s different about their experience compared to that of SMD men?  Homelessness, drugs, prison all came up – but not first  The experience and effects of trauma  Mental ill health  Domestic violence and relationships with men  Abused and uncared for in childhood  Loss of children  Responsibility for children  Women without children  Migrant women at the bottom  Being/not being a ‘proper woman’  Lack of support 7

 Do we need different categories and clusters to understand SMD for women?  Can we locate data sources for the categories defined by women?  To what extent does service use data exclude women?  Are there women ‘hidden’ behind SMD men? And if so, how can we identify them? 8

 Identify the factors which increase the risk of people becoming SMD & use data (e.g. from population samples) to estimate likely prevalence  Advantages: enables wider range of factors to be considered for different groups; enables assessment of risk across life course  Challenges: broader – so less focused on SMD; at risk of SMD not the same as being SMD; population samples exclude some SMD groups 9

 Famil ilie ies: s: lone e parents ts , those living in social or rented housing, families with three or more children, those with a young ung mother her , a black mother her , and those who live in most deprived areas. Families affected by disability, limiting illness or mental health problem  Young g people e 16 – 24: females les, those se living ing independ ndent ently ly with h their ir own childre ldren , those living with a lone parent, social and private renters, and those living in more deprived areas.  Working king-age age people without dependent children: wome men, n, older working-age people, those from manual occupational groups, home-mak makers ers, early retirees, sick and disabled people, those who never married, and those living in single-person households.  Older r people aged 60 +: those se aged 80 years rs and over, , those who live alone and those who have poor access to services. 10

 If women and girls are at equal or greater risk of disadvantage, why do they not feature so much in SMD groups?  Is it because disadvantaged men and women have different trajectories? 11

 Girls & women at greater risk  Abuse in childhood  Domestic violence  Accumulation – ‘poly - victimisation’  Violence greater risk more violence  Poor women at greater risk

Proportion of each violence and abuse group who have attempted suicide APMS Analysis, 2013 29 % 12 10 10 10 2

 Pink and blue  Maintain inequalities  Risk for women’s mental health  Double whammy for women who don’t conform

 Identify people in those groups most affected by social hierarchies & oppression – those exposed to the most oppressive and toxic consequences of power  Advantages: takes account of changing social hierarchies such as migration & global economics  Challenges: not an easy fit with data sources 17

 Gender is arguably one of the universal stratification systems (men have more of the social and political power in most places)  Impacts at both social group and individual level  Reinforced by dominant ideologies and institutions  Dominant groups get lion’s share of material resources, freedom & choices 18

Freedom from male violence 1. Equal access to education and employment 2. Financial independence, control over life 3. choices and freedom from gendered expectations Sexual/reproductive choice 4. Freedom of movement 5. Shared responsibility for children 6. 19

 Which women have experienced the most toxic interpersonal consequences of the gender system e.g. abusive relationships?  Which women are additionally disadvantaged through being part of other social groups  Which women have had experience of institutions and services which reinforce inequalities  Which women have experienced life long material hardship, exploitation and discrimination because of their membership of gender and other disadvantaged social groups?

 10 essential capabilities for a good life: ◦ Life ◦ Bodily health ◦ Bodily integrity ◦ Senses, imagination and thought ◦ Emotions ◦ Practical reason ◦ Affiliations ◦ Other species ◦ Play ◦ Control over one’s own environment 21

 Which women are least likely to enjoy these 10 capabilities?  Are there proxy indicators for their presence or absence? 22

 Do they lead to the same groups of women?  If so, who are they and where can we find them? 23