Violence Against Women is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights.

Violence against women is a problem of epidemic proportions in Australia. It is called many different things, such as domestic violence, family violence, intimate partner violence, coercive control, online abuse, stalking, workplace sexual harassment, street harassment and sexual assault. Our definition includes all these forms of violence against women.

The United Nations defines violence against women as ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life’ ( United Nations. Declaration on the elimination of violence against women. New York: UN, 1993).

Violence against women is experienced across all communities and cultures. However, its nature, prevalence and risk factors differ within population groups.

Key statistics relating to the Australian population can be found here.

Gender inequality sets the underlying context for violence against women. Gender inequality is both held in place by and is the precondition that enables the drivers of violence against women.

Gender inequality occurs when access to rights, resources, and opportunities is unequal between genders, including men, women, boys, girls, and individuals of other gender identities (https://plan-international.org/learn/what-is-gender-inequality/.)

Gender inequality takes many forms in Australia:

• In 2024, the national gender pay gap according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics is 11.5%. For every dollar on average men earned, women earned 89 cents. That’s $231.50 less than men each week, and $12,038 a year.
• Women comprise half (51%) of all employed persons, yet they continue to be under-represented in managerial positions across all industries, including those that are female dominated.
• Women of all ages spend over 9 hours more a week than men on unpaid work and care.

Gender equality is when people of all genders have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities (https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm).

Gender Equality is vital to all Australians, and people of all genders in the Barwon South West.

• Gender equality is a human right and precondition for social justice.
• Communities with greater gender equality experience a range of social benefits, including increased cohesion, connectivity and greater health and wellbeing.
• Gender-equal practices allow men to engage more in family life and take on caring responsibilities.
• Workplaces that foster and promote gender equality have access to a larger talent pool, and have an greater ability to attract and retain high performing talent
• Increasing women’s participation in the workforce has real benefits for Australia’s GDP
• Increased gender equality leads to less violence against women

Resepct 2040 partners work together towards Gender Equality in the Barwon South West.

Gender equality must be achieved if we are going to eliminate violence against women.

Respect 2040 takes a primary prevention approach to address the underlying social conditions or factors that cause violence against women and that excuse, justify or even promote it. Our primary prevention approach draws from the national framework, Our Watch’s Change the Story

The evidence base from Change the Story tells us that gender inequality creates the social conditions for violence against women to occur. There are four key expressions (drivers) of gender inequality that have been found to predict or drive this violence.

• Driver 1. Condoning of violence against women.
• Driver 2. Men’s control of decision-making and limits to women’s independence in public and private life.
• Driver 3. Rigid gender stereotyping and dominant forms of masculinity.
• Driver 4. Male peer relations and cultures of masculinity that emphasise aggression, dominance and control.

The gendered drivers of violence against women have influence across all levels of society from the institutional to the individual, from schools to sporting groups. Disrupting the influence of these drivers requires coordinated action across multiple setting and sectors sustained overtime.

By working across the whole population and taking action to dismantle the gendered drivers of violence, Respect 2040 aims to create long-lasting cultural change that prevents violence against women from happening in the first place.

Respect 2040 is part of the national and statewide primary prevention system. Alongside the Change the Story evidence-based framework, Respect 2040 aligns with State and Federal plans and strategies to advance gender equity and prevent gender-based violence such as:

Some women are more likely to experience violence. The perpetration and the experience of violence are influenced by the intersections between gendered drivers and other systemic and structural forms of social injustice, discrimination and oppression. These include racism, ableism, heteronormativity, cissexism and the impacts of colonialism.

Understanding how gender inequality and other forms of inequality intersect to shape, or influence, women’s experiences of violence is sometimes called ‘intersectionality’ or taking an ‘intersectional approach’.

Examples of intersectionality:

• Women with disability in Australia are twice as likely to have experienced sexual violence over their lifetime than women without disabilities.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience disproportionally high rates of violence and are 31 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence–related assaults.
• Lesbian, bisexual and queer women experience higher rates of sexual violence than heterosexual women in Australia.
• Transgender and gender diverse people experience very high rates of family, domestic and sexual violence.
• Elder abuse often occurs in relationships where there is an expectation of trust such as with family, friends and carers. Disproportionally more women experience elder abuse, than men.
• Young women (18–34 years) experience significantly higher rates of physical and sexual violence than women in older age groups.
• In addition to physical and sexual violence, women from migrant and refugee backgrounds are particularly vulnerable to financial abuse, reproductive coercion and immigration related violence, for example withholding documents, threats of visa cancellations or deportation.

(Gender-based violence in Australia at a glance (August 2024) | Unlocking the Prevention Potential: accelerating action to end domestic, family and sexual violence | PM&C)

Planning initiatives to prevent violence that are ‘intersectional’ can help to end violence against all women.

Respect 2040 takes steps to ensure that primary prevention programs, processes, and policies acknowledge and address various types of oppression and disadvantage that worsen the experiences of gender inequality and gender-based violence. This is known as an intersectional approach.

Our Watch Limited 2025 identifies four essential actions to prevent violence against women.

1.Challenge condoning of violence against women – Challenging the beliefs that justify, excuse, trivialise or downplay violence against women, or shift blame from perpetrators to victims, as well as challenging the ways these beliefs are upheld through things like workplace practices and laws.

Example actions:

• Supporting organisational and community leaders to model strong leadership and challenge violence-supportive attitudes, norms and practices.
• Calling out ideas like ‘why did she get so drunk?’ or ‘why didn’t she fight back?’, when they’re used to shift blame for violence.

2.Promote women’s independence and decision making in public life and relationships – Promoting women’s independence in their relationships and families, as well as promoting women’s access to resources and decision-making power in public life, including in workplaces and parliaments.

Example actions:

• Initiatives that increase the leadership skills and opportunities of women with disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
• Identifying and analysing the gender pay gap in your organisation. Build awareness about the need for change, and implement strategies recommended by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

3.Build new social norms that foster personal identities not constrained by gender stereotypes – Challenging beliefs about how men and women should behave – and what they’re capable of – as well as challenging the ways these beliefs are upheld through social practices.

Example actions:

• Promoting flexible work arrangements and parental and carers leave to all employees and encouraging men to take up these options as well as women.
• In your setting, developing prevention activities that increase understanding of, and capacity to challenge, rigid gender roles and stereotypes.

4.Support men and boys to develop healthy masculinities and positive, supportive male peer relationships – Supporting men and boys to develop healthy ideas about what it means to ‘be a man’ – and develop positive relationships with other men, that are not built on showing aggression, dominance, control.

Example actions:

• Promoting community actions which encourage depictions of healthy and positive masculinities and engage staff in prevention campaigns.
• Embedding a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment. Consider training for managers on how to create a culture that prevents sexual harassment from occurring.

Safe and Equal have developed these tip sheets to convey the complexity of what drives violence against women in an easy-to-understand resource.