‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policies
Abstract This article focuses on policy and law concerning violence against women as a public health issue. In Sweden, violence against women is recently recognized as a public health problem; we label this shift “The public health turn on violence against women”. The new framing implies increased d...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2020-05-01
|
| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-020-08766-7 |
| _version_ | 1818881311627018240 |
|---|---|
| author | Ann Öhman Monica Burman Maria Carbin Kerstin Edin |
| author_facet | Ann Öhman Monica Burman Maria Carbin Kerstin Edin |
| author_sort | Ann Öhman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract This article focuses on policy and law concerning violence against women as a public health issue. In Sweden, violence against women is recently recognized as a public health problem; we label this shift “The public health turn on violence against women”. The new framing implies increased demands on the Swedish healthcare sector and its’ ability to recognise violence and deal with it in terms of prevention and interventions. The aim was to describe and discuss the main content and characteristics of Swedish healthcare law, and national public health and gender-equality policies representing the public health turn on violence against women. Through discursive policy analysis, we investigate how the violence is described, what is regarded to be the problem and what solutions and interventions that are suggested in order to solve the problem. Healthcare law articulates violence against women as an ordinary healthcare issue and the problem as shortcomings to provide good healthcare for victims, but without specifying what the problem or the legal obligation for the sector is. The public health problem is rather loosely defined, and suggested interventions are scarce and somewhat vague. The main recommendations for healthcare are to routinely ask patients about violence exposure. Violence against women is usually labelled “violence within close relationships” in the policies, and it is not necessarily described as a gender equality problem. While violence against women in some policy documents is clearly framed as a public health problem, such a framing is absent in others, or is transformed into a gender-neutral problem of violence within close relationships. It is not clearly articulated what the framing should lead to in terms of the healthcare sector’s obligations, interventions and health promotions, apart from an ambivalent discourse on daring to ask about violence. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T14:59:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-000bdf465a504f568a403e90e722996e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T14:59:51Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-000bdf465a504f568a403e90e722996e2022-12-21T20:16:35ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582020-05-0120111210.1186/s12889-020-08766-7‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policiesAnn Öhman0Monica Burman1Maria Carbin2Kerstin Edin3Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS), Umeå UniversityPolice Education Unit at Umeå UniversityUmeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS), Umeå UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityAbstract This article focuses on policy and law concerning violence against women as a public health issue. In Sweden, violence against women is recently recognized as a public health problem; we label this shift “The public health turn on violence against women”. The new framing implies increased demands on the Swedish healthcare sector and its’ ability to recognise violence and deal with it in terms of prevention and interventions. The aim was to describe and discuss the main content and characteristics of Swedish healthcare law, and national public health and gender-equality policies representing the public health turn on violence against women. Through discursive policy analysis, we investigate how the violence is described, what is regarded to be the problem and what solutions and interventions that are suggested in order to solve the problem. Healthcare law articulates violence against women as an ordinary healthcare issue and the problem as shortcomings to provide good healthcare for victims, but without specifying what the problem or the legal obligation for the sector is. The public health problem is rather loosely defined, and suggested interventions are scarce and somewhat vague. The main recommendations for healthcare are to routinely ask patients about violence exposure. Violence against women is usually labelled “violence within close relationships” in the policies, and it is not necessarily described as a gender equality problem. While violence against women in some policy documents is clearly framed as a public health problem, such a framing is absent in others, or is transformed into a gender-neutral problem of violence within close relationships. It is not clearly articulated what the framing should lead to in terms of the healthcare sector’s obligations, interventions and health promotions, apart from an ambivalent discourse on daring to ask about violence.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-020-08766-7Violence against womenIntimate partner violencePublic healthGender equalityPolicyHealthcare services |
| spellingShingle | Ann Öhman Monica Burman Maria Carbin Kerstin Edin ‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policies BMC Public Health Violence against women Intimate partner violence Public health Gender equality Policy Healthcare services |
| title | ‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policies |
| title_full | ‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policies |
| title_fullStr | ‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policies |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policies |
| title_short | ‘The public health turn on violence against women’: analysing Swedish healthcare law, public health and gender-equality policies |
| title_sort | the public health turn on violence against women analysing swedish healthcare law public health and gender equality policies |
| topic | Violence against women Intimate partner violence Public health Gender equality Policy Healthcare services |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-020-08766-7 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT annohman thepublichealthturnonviolenceagainstwomenanalysingswedishhealthcarelawpublichealthandgenderequalitypolicies AT monicaburman thepublichealthturnonviolenceagainstwomenanalysingswedishhealthcarelawpublichealthandgenderequalitypolicies AT mariacarbin thepublichealthturnonviolenceagainstwomenanalysingswedishhealthcarelawpublichealthandgenderequalitypolicies AT kerstinedin thepublichealthturnonviolenceagainstwomenanalysingswedishhealthcarelawpublichealthandgenderequalitypolicies |