SALT have been working with the Whittlesea City Basketball Association, City of Whittlesea and DPV Health in a project funded by the State Government of Victoria to tackle the Prevention of Violence Against Women through Community Sport.
The project aims to challenge the social constructs of gender stereotypes in order to create safe, fair and respectful sporting environments. Over the next year, SALT will be running sessions on topics such as Health and Wellbeing, Equity is the Game and Healthy Masculinity. Participants will explore the pressures from society about what it means to be a ‘real’ man and how these impact the health and wellbeing of men and boys, and how these rigid stereotypes contribute to violence against women and men. We will also look at gendered stereotypes and how they impact people in sport and look for opportunities to remove all the barriers that limit access, opportunity, or growth of any individual within basketball.
We will also identify opportunities to promote gender equity through gender equity audits and create action plans to strategically direct future changes. A network of trained Health and Wellbeing Officers will be created and connected to each other by way of a Health and Wellbeing Network and linked into local support services.
Dave and Scott attended an Introduction to Prevention of Violence Against Women training workshop in September. This was conducted by the Jesuit Social Services and looked at the Man Box and Adolescent Man Box Research. This research helped to guide and develop some of the key messaging.
