STOP THE SILENCE END THE VIOLENCE
Violence against women is an appalling human rights violation. But it is not inventible. We can put a stop to this. -Nicole Kidman
What’s Happening Australia?
- Every week, at least one woman is murdered by a current or former partner.
- Every three hours a woman is hospitalised as a result of domestic and family violence.
- One in five Australian women experience sexual violence.
Shocking? Yes!
As shocking as these statistics are, they need to be put into context. These numbers represent people. Mums, sisters, daughters and friends who have done nothing wrong and deserve to be safe, and live free from fear.
What kind of world are we living in where the women around us are nervous of being alone in a park? Or frightened walking past a bunch of guys outside a pub? Or terrified about what mood their partner might be in when they get home with their kids?
We need to step forward and examine the culture of masculinity and the way we socialise our children into gender roles for a positive social change. This step is well overdue but it is never too late to start for a social change.
95% of all Australian victims encounter violence from a male perpetrator. This may include physical or sexual assault, or threats.
At a community level, often many individuals assume that domestic and family violence is a physical act of violence within a relationship or the home. However, the act of domestic violence is complex and involves a range of physical and non-physical behaviours. The chart below outlines the different type of acts that involve domestic violence.
What Is Behind Domestic Violence?
Well the answer is ‘Gender Stereotypes’ constructed by society. Domestic violence is directly related to our attitudes and to gender and power relationships in the family. Gender inequality is the strongest predictor to violence-supportive attitudes.
Domestic violence is still happening today because of our own attitudes towards women’s roles in society. It is still happening because men and women do not have equal power. It is still happening because men and women are not valued in the same way and that they should should act in certain ways or are better at certain things based on their gender.
The act of domestic violence is multifaceted. It involves the person’s characteristics, community and organisational influences (including community attitudes). These are reinforced by broader social structures and public policies entrenched through media, law and social norms of power and control. All these contribute to unequal distribution of power and resources between men and women in both public and private life.
Shifting Attitudes..
Changing our attitudes is crucial to the prevention of domestic violence and influencing the prevalence of reporting rates. It is a re-examination of the the role of men in a relationship and definitions of masculinity. Attitudes are known to be socially constructed and luckily can be changed. Attitudes are not traits from birth but rather mutable.
However, approaches that pursue to shift attitudes alone such as community education and social marketing campaigns are most likely to be ineffective unless they are part of a broader range of strategies aiming at behaviour. For example, law reform, policy change in organisations and strong leadership against violence-supportive cultures. For change to be effective, the programs should be focused and targeted to change behaviour.
Reporting Domestic Violence
Based on figures provided by police services Australian police deal with 5,000 domestic violence matters on average every week. That’s one every two minutes. So by the time you would finishing reading this article Police would have deal with 2–3 women.
However, reporting rates are so low. Numerous reasons why a person who experiences domestic or sexual violence might be reluctant to formally report such incidences. These include fear of the perpetrator, fear of not being believed or of being blamed, fear of approaching the police or medical profession, and feelings of confusion, shame and embarrassment.
Stand Up, Speak Up and Act
The White Ribbon Australia social movement works to reinforce this change by uniting the community to stand up, speak out and act to stop all forms of violence against women, including family and domestic violence.
White Ribbon Australia continues to advocate for the strengthening of laws across Australia to ensure the acknowledgement and protection of victims, and accountability of perpetrators of violence against women.
Be The Future and Get Involved
If we can change society’s attitudes and raise a new generation of Australians who ‘get’ gender quality, and walk the talk among each other we can stop this national crisis. So, please, get on board and get involved because it can possibly involve your mother, your sister or your daughter.