Violence against older women : activism, social justice, and social change

The Older Women’s Network (OWN) of New South Wales (NSW) is an activist organization dedicated to promoting the rights of older women, preventing gender and aged based violence and working towards social justice and social change. In 2007 the OWN NSW Inc. initiated the Prevention of Violence Against Older Women Working Party to research and document current knowledge and understanding of violence against older women, focus public attention on this issue and bring about changes in public perceptions, policy and practice. Presented here is an overview of the major achievements of the OWN Working Party, including a meta analysis of three research projects, with their findings, recommendations and outcomes. In conclusion, research conducted by activist organizations such as OWN can make a significant contribution to furthering our understanding of violence against older women and to policy and practice.