| Summary: | Violence against women in Canada affects thousands daily, taking the forms of
physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and financial abuse, and murder. Organizations
that work with these women contain power in the form of resources, vested societal
legitimacy and authority, endowing them with tremendous potential for the transformation
of a status-quo that perpetuates - through unconsciousness or design - a violent society,
resulting in the oppression of women. Interorganizational coordination is a postmodernist
technology of action that has been shown, in past research, to ameliorate and even remedy
the causes and effects of a fragmented organizational community through reactive and
proactive coordinative behaviours.
This study used three research methodologies to explore the community of
organizations within the City of Richmond, B.C. Results showed a climate that was
lacking in specialized or support services for women, in policies and protocols regarding
violence, in information exchange among service providers and to women, as well as a
disparity in the standards and levels of professional training. There was also an emphasis
on the roles and responsibilities of organizations concerning violence against women.
Interorganizational coordination in the City of Richmond has already alleviated
some of these concerns and, through continued short-term problem-solving and long-term
visionary planning, has the potential of instigating dynamic and progressive change at
many levels through a catalytic alliance, or negotiated solidarity for the purposes of
societal transformation.
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