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

• f 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

2 10 12 10 10 29

%

 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

1.

Freedom from male violence

2.

Equal access to education and employment

3.

Financial independence, control over life choices and freedom from gendered expectations

4.

Sexual/reproductive choice

5.

Freedom of movement

6.

Shared responsibility for children

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

• ther 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

• r absence?

22

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

them?

23