An influential child of its time: Victim Support Sweden and the changing discourse on violence against women

Abstract

This article aims to describe and analyse the policy work by Sweden's largest victim support organization -the Swedish Association for Victim Support (BOJ) -in the area of violence against women. The article is based on a study of BOJ's national archive and interviews with key figures in the organization. We analysed the material within the context of contemporary governing political ideas in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, particularly concerning violence against women. We argue that BOJ is both a creation and a creator of its time. BOJ gained a position in a changing welfare state and has adhered to contemporary governing ideas over time. At the same time, BOJ has helped silence structural discourses around violence against women in relation to both class and gender by supporting the notion that considered abused women to be crime victims, and not as women first and foremost. Going forward, it is essential to ask whether defining abused women principally as 'victims of crime' is helpful or harmful. If we adjust how violence against women is perceived, the solutions will change.

Service Model for Women's and Children's Violence Victims of Collaborative Governance and Delivery Service

“…Such collaborative efforts adhere to the delineation of responsibilities between central and regional authorities (Emezue, 2020;Notko et al, 2022) There are three views on dissecting public administration: old administration, new public management, and new public service management, the view regarding new public service management positions citizens as the main object of democratic government (Cramp & Zufferey, 2021;McGuire et al, 2022). Citizens or society are not only seen as individuals but as part of the government in the public service system; in the new public service (NPS), public involvement with the government is a process of democratization of public service reform (Fogarty et al, 2022;Gallo & Svensson, 2021).…”