On 10 November 2022, the Federal Association for Perpetrator Work (BAG Täterarbeit e.V.) organised a full-day expert conference in Berlin on the topic of ‘Female Violence – Acts of Violence, Social Context, and Practical Work‘.
With around 80 registrations, we welcomed a very engaged and multi-professional expert audience to our specialist event at the Haus der Wirtschaft in Berlin.
Inspired by two presentations, three workshops, and the subsequent panel discussion, participants had the opportunity to engage with the development of necessary steps for practical and scientific work with female perpetrators of violence.
In the morning, two speakers provided a scientific introduction to the dynamics of violence and the societal embedding of female perpetrators of domestic violence. In the first keynote presentation, ‘Dynamics of Violence by Women in Partner Relationships’, Professor Barbara Kavemann (Scientific Research Institute on Gender Issues, Freiburg) shed light on the differentiation of violence dynamics concerning attack, resistance/defence, and struggle in domestic violence. This was followed by Ms Marion Steffens (Gesine Intervention) with her keynote presentation ‘Domestic Violence in a Gender-Specific Context’. Here, the challenge of adopting a realistic perspective on violence within gender relations in the professional field was considered. Engaging questions were discussed after each presentation.
After the lunch break, there was an opportunity to delve deeper into practice-oriented exchange within three workshops. The workshops focused on the following topics:
Workshop I: ‘Group Work with Female Perpetrators of Violence – A Look at Practice’ with Isabella Spiesberger and Thomas Arend (Berlin Centre for Violence Prevention)
Workshop II: ‘Why Do We Want to Work Differently with Female Perpetrators of Violence? Tools and Sensitisation in Methodology with Female Perpetrators of Violence’ with Wolfram Palme (Triade Leipzig) and Stephanie Kaindl (Diakonie Rosenheim)
Workshop III: ‘Typology of Women Who Perpetrate Violence in Partnerships – And How to Deal With It’ with Rebecca Gulowski and Sabine Penger (Frauentherapiezentrum München, violenTia)
Dr Judith Albrecht expertly and engagingly moderated the event.
We would like to thank all participants and the bbw Akademie for this extremely successful expert day. For feedback and enquiries, please contact project officer Daniela Hirt (daniela.hirt@bag-taeterarbeit.de).
