VAW policy regimes in Italy: an analysis across regional governments and women’s centres

The paper analyses the extent to which institutionalisation processes are gendered in the context of violence against women (VAW) policies in Italy. Specifically, through a comparative analysis of VAW policies in three regions (namely, Emilia-Romagna, Apulia, and Lombardy), the paper aims to depict anti-violence centre (AVC) advocates and workers’ representations of VAW policies in their daily practices. In this paper we will focus on the regulation processes of the selected regional administrations, while trying to answer to the following questions: To what extent has a policy that originated from feminist movement activities and practices ended up in very strict bureaucratisation processes? What are the consequences of this processin the selected regions? To what extent does the institutionalisation of VAW policies have an impact on the activities and practices of AVCs, from the perspectives of the centres’ advocates and workers?