This week AWAVA has been supporting the launch of the joint National Women’s Alliances Project- Women Vote 2013. The six National Women’s Alliances have come together to encourage women to use their votes in the 2013 Federal election. We think that it is important that women’s voices are heard in this election. We want women to vote in a way that reflects the diverse lives and experiences of women in Australia.
AWAVA Chairperson Julie Oberin attended the EVAs on 19th July- Congratulations to all the winners of the EVAs Media Awards for excellence in the reporting of violence against women
Around the nation
- “Australian boys need to be taught an ”alternative way of being men” if the community is to break a cycle of domestic violence fuelled by aggressive and physical stereotypes of masculinity”
- In Victoria, the award-winning Bsafe program faces an uncertain future
- In Western Australia, “domestic violence laws will be put under the legal microscope as part of the first comprehensive review into how victims are treated by the WA justice system”
- In Campbelltown, pubs and bars “stand up to violence against women“
- In Victoria, a man with a history of violence “who subjected a woman to a “sustained and brutal” assault” has been jailed sending an unequivocal message against domestic violence
- “The New South Wales government is setting up a telephone hotline for men who perpetrate domestic violence in a bid to shift the focus to early intervention”
- Ross Honeywill, the national convenor of the of the Centre for Gender Equity, writes that although “women are running neck and neck with their male counterparts in Australia’s universities. And they are dominating important professional categories…any semblance of equity appears a long way off“
Around the world
- In this article, Prof Nadje Al Ali writes that “women in Iraq bear the brunt of increasing levels of gender-based violence, inadequate infrastructure and poverty”
- In the UK, grocery shop chain Londis has apologised after one of its branches used the term ‘wife beater’ to advertise a brand of lager
- In India, the Supreme Court, in a bid to stop acid attacks on women, “has ordered national and state governments to regulate the sale of acid chemicals by classifying them as a poison”
- In Malawi, President “Dr. Joyce Banda has called on non-governmental organization to help the country in fighting against gender based violence”
- “A Norwegian woman has spoken out about the 16-month prison sentence she received in Dubai after reporting a rape incident to police”
- In Scotland, the prostitution and sex work criminalisation versus legalisation debate heats up
Publications and Resources
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published research on the “ Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence“
Get Involved!
- Join the joint National Women’s Alliances Project Women Vote 2013 by participating in the “Women! Use your Vote” campaign
**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only