Women's Police Stations in Argentina: Gender Violence Prevention

Case Study Australian Research Council funded study of how Women's Police Stations Argentina Prevent Gender Violence 2018-2021 Conceptual Framework Reimagining the policing of gender violence - Breaks with carceral feminism • Essentialized timeless and placeless concept of woman of liberal feminism turns out to be a white privileged woman with resources to seek justice • Intersectionality concept founded by black lawyer and activist Kimberlé Crenshaw • gender is only one axis of power - must consider other inequalities, structured by colonialization, poverty, ethnicity, class and race • Coloniality of gender violence • Designed to receive victims and their children • Offer an integrated multi- disciplinary response (lawyers, Social workers, police) • Have a mandate for prevention activities to turn around the local norms that sustain gender violence - • Addresses the structural issue of the maleness of policing • Have their own separate command and career structure • Report to their own Commissioner Inspired by Southern Theory • Problematizes universal knowledge claims based on social science - epistemic violence of colonization direct attention to periphery- center relations of power • The South is a Metaphor for power social theory can be developed by & from the periphery social theory is positioned, fluid, historical not universal, fixed or timeless (Connell, 2007: viii-ix) • Work from a gender perspective in interdisciplinary teams • Provide a gateway to services in justice, health, legal advice, counselling and housing • Do not just funnel women into crime just system • Survivors retain agency - • Side-steps some of the problems of criminalization • Limited by lack of resources and increasing demand • Under-valued by Common Police Inspired by critical thinking • Reimagining the possible • Pat Carlen 2010 • Extensive evaluations found CMF widen women's access to justice • Amaral et al. 2018: Hautzinger 2003; 2016; Santos 2007 • Jubb and Pasinato 2003; Jubb et al. 2010; UN Women 2011 • Miller and Segal 2018; Pasinato 2016; Sardenberg et al. 2010 • Perova & Reynolds found their presence led to a 50% drop in DV homicide for young women in urban areas & 17% drop overall (2017:193-194). How Do Argentinian Specialist Police Stations Prevent Gender-Based Violence? - Work with victims to break silence and prevent re-victimization - Work with local organizations to prevent gender-based violence - Work with communities to prevent gender-based violence disrupt norms In 2018 Buenos Aires Province, Argentina: - Had 2,300 employees - Responded to 245,437 reports of domestic violence - Received 7,277 reports of sexual abuse Comisarías de la Mujer y Familia (CMF) - Police Stations for Women and Families Designed to receive victims - Account for 1 in 5 Police Stations in the Province Can Policing Gender Violence Be Reimagined By Incorporating Elements Of The Argentinian Model? - Paradox • Women-led policing embodies a paradox • Unintended consequence • Reinforces gender stereotypes that assign women to policing women's business "specialism" - - Northern thinking • Rabe-Hemp 2020 characterizes Brazil's women's police stations as 'backward' • Privileges northern world as benchmark for measuring progress • Sameness does not equal gender equality Structural solution to a structural problem • Policing gender violence in province of Buenos Aires is mainstream • Not marginal or specialist • Women led police stations that emerged in Latin America and spread across the non-English speaking world (mainly global south) are not a mere residue of the past - as policing was in the Global north 30 years ago - - - Women-led & Victim-centered • Designed to meet needs of Victims/survivors • Who retain their agency • Autonomy from the state Emphasis on Primary Prevention (not criminalization) • Multi-disciplinary teams offer a gateway to services than just criminal justice • Only around a third seek a criminal justice response • Encourages early intervention in the cycle of DFV Transformative Potential • Source of inspiration for re- imaging the policing of gender violence elsewhere in the world • Side-stepping many unintended consequences of criminalization