The Impact of Marriage Norms and Gender on Anglican Clergy Actions in Response to Domestic Violence

Domestic violence (DV) is a gendered issue, with women more likely to be victim/survivors and men perpetrate abuse. With strong emphasis on protecting the safety of children, ways in which faith-based communities leaders engage DV has come under scrutiny. Clergy are potential responders shape cultural contexts occurs. Yet, how religious norms relate actions taken when clergy respond remains under-researched. Using survey Australian Anglican clergy, this paper explores views about “headship” sanctity marriage uptake by churches. Increased support for headship predicted lower take-up victim/survivor safety-focused frequency churches focused organizations. Male were than their female counterparts perpetrators counsel couples. No independent associations observed between heightened marriage. While strength relationships both gender was generally weak, these findings indicate that work needed heighten awareness importance safety, connections services, problematic practice couples counselling, challenges around directly pastoring perpetrators.