home > frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

logo picWhat does WEEO WISER mean?

Women Educating Each Other, Women In Safe &
Equal Relationships. Local young women came up with
this name and also designed the logo.

The name captures the heart and soul of the project.

What is ‘Domestic Violence’?

Domestic Violence is: Violent, abusive or intimidating behaviour carried out by an adult against a partner or former partner to control and dominate that person. Domestic violence causes fear, physical and/or psychological harm. It is most often violent, abusive or intimidating behaviour by a man against a woman. Living with domestic violence has a profound affect upon children and young people and may constitute a form of child abuse.
(NSW Department of Health 2003).

Types of abuse

Domestic violence is when one partner consciously tries to, or does, manipulate and dominate the other. It is about power and control. It happens across all communities, social classes, ages, cultural backgrounds and geographical areas. (adapted from Another Closet)

Domestic violence can take many forms. Many of these don’t include physical violence.

Emotional abuse
is any type of ongoing behaviour by one partner (or ex-partner) to make the other feel afraid or worthless. It can include:

  • Threatening their children.
  • Hurting their pets.
  • Putting them down like, telling them that they are ugly, useless or stupid.
  • Humiliating them in front of friends, family or in public.

return to top

Social abuse
is any behaviour by one partner to control the other’s social life. It can include:

  • Stopping them from seeing friends or family.
  • Abusing or fighting with their friends or family so they stop visiting or calling.
  • Cutting off the phone or monitoring calls or bills.
  • Locking them in the house.
  • Isolating them from their cultural background or preventing them practicing their religious beliefs.

Physical abuse
is any type of physical violence that an abusive partner inflicts on the other. It can include:

  • Hitting, kicking, pushing, slapping, strangling or burning.
  • Breaking possessions or punching/kicking walls.
  • Withholding or stopping their partner from getting medication or treatments.

Sexual abuse
is any behaviour where one partner forces the other to perform sexual acts they don’t want to. It can include:

  • Pressuring them to have sex when they don’t want to.
  • Pressuring, forcing or tricking them into having unsafe sex.
  • Making them have sex with other people.
  • Sexually assaulting (raping) them.

return to top

Financial abuse
is any behaviour by one partner to control the other’s money against their will. It can include:

  • Taking their money or controlling their income.
  • Refusing to give them money or making them account for everything they spend.
  • Selling or destroying their possessions or making it difficult for them to work.
  • Threatening to withdraw financial support as a means of control.

Stalking
is any behaviour by which one partner (or ex-partner) tries to intimidate or harass the other. It can include:

  • Following them when they go to work, home or out.
  • Constantly watching them, their house or work.
  • Calling, texting or e-mailing them or their family, friends or work colleagues more often than is appropriate or when asked not to.

For more info see:

Why do we only work with young women?

young women and shild

Violence and abuse is a big problem for many young women, or it could be soon. In fact young women are noted in statistics to be more likely to experience abuse in their own relationships than women in older age groups.

We want to try and give young women knowledge, attitudes and skills to expect to feel safe, equal and respected in their relationships. Young women have told us that they find it easier to talk about relationship issues when they are in a group young female peers.

What about boys?

It is important that similar work be done with young men. However, as the WEEO WISER program is a project of a women’s health centre the program focuses on the importance of empowering young women. We promote the idea of men taking responsibility for their part in creating respectful, equal and safe relationships in their lives, especially with their girlfriends or boyfriends.

This would be an ideal project for passionate male teachers, health and community workers to take part and would be supported by the Liverpool Women’s Health Centre.

return to top

Is there violence in same sex relationships?

Domestic violence is most commonly perpetrated by a male partner (like a boyfriend) against a female partner (like a girlfriend). However it happens in all types of intimate relationships. This includes in heterosexual relationships, same sex relationships, between family members and sometimes even in close friendships.

Most gay and lesbian relationships are built on love and respect. Some are built on abuse and control. Abuse and control in a relationship is domestic violence… Domestic violence in same sex and heterosexual relationships share many similarities, including the types of abuse and the impact on the abused partner.
(Taken from Another Closet: Domestic Violence in Same Sex Relationships, produced by ACON NSW).

Domestic violence is never okay and it is never the fault of the person experiencing the fear and control. Lesbians and gay men often face additional barriers to accessing support and leaving violent relationships due to homophobia. Find more info about domestic violence in same sex relationships here.

Why are the WEEO WISER workshops run in year 9?

Many young women are starting to be in or think about getting into more serious relationships in around this time. Relationships at all ages can be healthy and unhealthy/ It is important that young women are equipped to think about relationships in regards to happiness and safety and have some ideas about what violence does occur in some relationships, how common this is and how to deal with it if they experience it in their own relationships.

Why are there 5 workshops in a program?

Spreading the workshops over five sessions is more effective for several reasons, including building trust. Trust and familiarity are important to enabling women to ask questions and engage in discussion in an environment in which they feel comfortable.  

Also, there is a lot of material that is important to discuss when talking about healthy and unhealthy relationships and domestic violence. Five workshops allows us to move beyond awareness raising and equip young women to speak out against violence and form healthy attitudes towards a non- acceptance of violence in relationships.

Why ‘peer education’?presentation by peer educator

  • Peers usually share characteristics & life experiences directly with those passing on the information & skills. So peers are often seen as more credible by young people and have greater influence than adults.
  • Peer education is particularly effective with young women about relationships as young women usually consult peers more than young men.
  • The focus groups with young women in Liverpool found workshops run by young women are best to get info & skills to young women.
  • Best practice guidelines developed by UN Population Fund and Youth Peer Education Network have been used to develop & implement WEEO WISER as an effective peer-led prevention initiative.
  • Peer education is a valuable approach to violence prevention with young people

return to top

Why do the peer educators work in pairs?

We work in pairs so we can…

  1. prepare together
  2. support each other
  3. pack-up together
  4. arrive & leave safely together
  5. share the load
  6. learn from & challenge each other
  7. address the group more effectively
  8. be more aware of group dynamics
  9. be prepared in case a participant becomes upset

And because different girls learn different things from different peer educators.

picWho are the peer educators?

We are a diverse group of 15 young women from South West Sydney Women aged from about 18 to 30 years who have trained to be peer educators. We are fabulous, strong and caring bunch of young women who want to make a real difference of other girls.

Want to know more about who we are and what we do?

Why is there a ‘support person’ at some workshop sessions?

They are called ‘support people’ because they support the peer educators. To do this they talk with the peer educators about how it’s all going, listen to the peer educators, help the peer educators to work together and give them feedback. Sometimes support people come into the workshops so they can see how things are going. They are also an extra set of hands sometimes.

Who are the support people?

Support people are all local health and community workers who have trained to support the WEEO WISER peer educators. They are all women who, like the peer educators, are passionate about preventing violence against women.

Why does WEEO WISER focus on Liverpool?

WEEO WISER is a project of the Liverpool Women’s Health Centre and the Centre is familiar with many local women (young and old) and some of the issues that matter to them, including relationships. Domestic violence is a serious and widespread issue. The Centre has been supporting women in and around Liverpool who have lived through domestic violence for over thirty years. It was time to do something at the other end and try and prevent it. That’s why are so excited to be working with young women.

In the future the WEEO WISER project aims to be spread throughout all women’s health centres in West and South West Sydney.

return to top