Weekly Round-Up * 10 March

Welcome to the latest edition of the AWAVA Weekly Round-Up. This week has seen a huge number of events and developments for women in Australia and around the world. In particular, this week marks the start of the59^th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59) in New York City! AWAVA will be hosting three parallel events during the next 2 weeks and we can’t wait to engage with our international colleagues around violence against women.
Our Program Manager Sophie has recorded the following video to give a brief introduction to CSW and explain why this year in particular is important (hint: it’s the 20^th anniversary of a certain conference in Beijing!):

With International Women’s Day just behind us, it has also been a week of speeches. From the Federal Government, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash have both spoken about gender equality in Australia, as have Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek. We have also seen recognition of powerful women speakers more broadly, with Emma Watson giving a Q&A on Facebook about gender equality, Amy McQuirespeaking about her life and work as an Aboriginal Feminist, and this round up of ‘5 speeches by women that you need to hear.’ We hope that these powerful words translate into positive action throughout the community in the weeks, months and years to come.

Around the Country

• The Federal Government has announced $120,000 of funding over 2 years to assist women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to navigate the court system
• Leaders from all three major political parties signed on to the UN HeforShe campaign at an International Women’s Day breakfast in Canberra
• The Federal Government has announced a $30 million joint commonwealth-states campaign to address the issue of rising domestic violence
• Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, in conjunction with Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, hascalled for a national crisis summit on violence against women
• Women’s Agenda has partnered with Twitter Australia with the goal of empowering women to speak out on the platform
• In Queensland, domestic violence services have praised the Domestic Violence Taskforce’s report as‘holistic and thorough’ with two new domestic violence shelters announced by the State Government in line with the report’s recommendations 
• In the ACT, donations and public support continue to flow in memory of murdered woman Tara Costigan, with the accused also charged with breaching a domestic violence order
  [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence, death] and the ACT Domestic Violence Crisis Service reporting a spike in demand for support and information in the aftermath [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence]
• Senior vascular surgeon Dr Gabrielle McMullin has received intense criticism after stating that she advises young female medical trainees to comply with sexual harassment if they hope to keep their career [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of sexual harassment]
• In New South Wales, the State Government has announced the development of a domestic violence disclosure scheme to allow people to ask authorities for information if they are concerned their partner may represent a risk. The ACT Government has said they will monitor the pilot
• In Victoria, country areas have the highest rates of family violence offenses reported to police with domestic violence support service the Centre for Non-Violence appealing for police in those areas torefer more victims to them for help 
• In Tasmania, the Law Society has called for legal change to allow judges and magistrates to order domestic violence perpetrators to undergo counselling and therapy
• Author and activist Tara Moss has called for the full funding of the 1800 RESPECT free phone line
• In New South Wales, the Salvation Army has issued an apology following comments from the manager of a Broken Hill refuge suggesting that women “use and abuse” the service
• In Tasmania, a class action is being launched on behalf of underage female victims of sexual abuse after a convicted child sex offender allegedly ‘bragged’ about his actions on social media

Around the World

• In Morocco, a new report has found that over 62% of the country’s women have experienced gender-based violence
• In Europe and Central Asia, NGOs from nine countries have participated in a workshop aimed at eliminating violence against women
• A United Nations funded educational soccer video game, Breakaway, has recently been shown to be effective in teaching young boys about gender-based violence
• In Hong Kong, calls have been made for criminal law reform to better address domestic and family violence
• In Somalia, representatives of the African Union and the United Nations have called for greater efforts to address gender-based violence
• In Brazil, a law has been passed to make “feminicide,” or the killing of a woman because of her gender, a specific crime [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence]
• In Turkey, a lack of official statistics on violence against women has led to speculation that the issue is worsening under the current government [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence]
• In the United States, Native American tribes have gained the legal rights to prosecute non-Native menwho commit crimes of domestic violence, dating violence or who violate a protection order against a victim who lives on tribal land
• International evidence has shown that despite an increase in international aid focusing on gender equality, less than 1% of that money is reaching grass-roots women’s groups

Research, Resources and Reports

• 1800 RESPECT has developed a new app, Daisy, designed to connect women experiencing gendered violence to services in their state and local area. The app was launched in Melbourne last week by the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, and Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty
• The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has launched their free new ‘Good practice, good business’ resources to provide advice on a range of issues including recruitment and retention of older workers, gender equality, sexual harassment, race discrimination, employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, employment of people with disabilities, domestic and family violence, mental illness and supporting carers in the workplace
• Paul Harpur and Heather Douglas have published a paper entitled ‘Disability and domestic violence: protecting survivors’ rights’ in the Griffith Law Review
• The Australian Institute of Criminology has published a paper entitled ‘Exploring the feasibility of an enhanced monitoring program on human trafficking and slavery’
• Human Rights Watch has published a new resource on gender-based violence designed for people with disabilities [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence]

Get Involved!

• Become an AWAVA Volunteer Intern! We’re looking for 2 Canberra-based interns – a Policy Intern and a Research Intern – to work 1 day per week and get some behind-the-scenes experience at a small NGO in the preventing violence against women sector
• During the next 2 weeks, you can get involved with the action at the Commission on the Status of Women by tweeting along under the hashtag #CSW59 

**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the view of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only.