Welcome to the latest edition of the AWAVA Weekly Round-Up. This week, we have highlighted efforts from across the country and the globe to bring conversations about violence against women into the public sphere. Attitudes and beliefs about gender and violence allow this issue to continue and fester in our society, but these conversations offer the opportunity to engage people who would never otherwise think about gender-based violence to change opinions and behaviours they may have that contribute to gender inequality and violence. It is key for us to get the message out there: violence against women is everybody’s business.
Around the Country
- The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has identified Tasmania as the lead jurisdiction in the push to make domestic violence orders apply across the whole of Australia
- Midwives around Australia have indicated that they do not have enough knowledge or training to assist pregnant women in violent relationships
- Journalist Georgina Dent has compared her experiences of harassment as a law student to those described by many women working as doctors [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of sexual harassment] and Emma Linton, an analyst in the oil and gas industry has talked about her own experiences of inappropriate behaviour in the workplace
- In New South Wales, domestic and family violence is set to become a key issue in the upcoming election
- In the ACT, the Territory Government has announced an additional $300,000 of funding to augment its efforts in addressing domestic violence
- In Tasmania, Governor Kate Warner has expressed her plan to focus on changing attitudes about gender in an effort to eliminate discrimination and violence against women
- In New South Wales, participation in the Love Bites school based program that focuses on domestic and sexual abuse has increased from 48 in 2014 to 220 students this year [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence]
- A former professional AFL player has been found guilty of domestic violence offenses and fired from his position coaching in the SANFL [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of abuse]
- In the Northern Territory, the Senate Inquiry into Domestic Violence has heard that sporting clubs have a key role to play in educating children about domestic and family violence
- Anger is growing after Wicked Campers have failed to comply with their own commitments and a ruling from the Advertising Standards Bureau to remove sexist and occasionally violent slogans from their vans [TIRGGER WARNING: images of sexist, violent slogans, nudity]
- The Centre for Public Christianity has called on conservative evangelical churches to fund research into domestic violence within their congregations
- Service providers are calling for greater recognition of the role acquired brain injuries can play in affecting women who have experienced violence even after they have left a violent situation
Around the World
- Indigenous women around the globe have been praised for their resistance against violence and for taking action to protect themselves, their communities and the environment [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence, sexual violence, state-sanctioned violence]
- The United Nations has described levels of violence against women as ‘alarmingly high’ with mixed progress being made in the last two decades
- In Canada, public discussions of sexual assaults and harassment on public transport are taking place after a photograph of a sexual assault on a commuter train was posted to Facebook [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions and image of sexual assault]
- YWCA Australia Executive Officer Dr Caroline Lambert has written about the importance of young women’s voices in the negotiations at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York
- In India, a recent study in the state of Chhattisgarh has found that healthcare providers are not providing adequate care to, and are in some cases further assaulting, victims of gender-based violence [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of sexual assault, harassment]
- In Puerto Rico, the Secretary of Education has authorised the inclusion of a gender perspective as an integral part of the curriculum in public schools [TRIGGER WARNING: Victim-blaming, death]
- In Wales, the Violence Against Women bill has been passed unanimously, making it the first such law in the UK [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence, gun violence]
- In the Solomon Islands, the first phase of the UN-Solomon Islands Government Joint Programme on Eliminating Violence against Women and Girls has officially been launched
- In Pakistan, calls are being made to reduce incidents of gender-based violence in schools
Research, Resources and Reports
- NSW peak organisations and state-wide service providers that work within the sexual violence and domestic and family violence field from a feminist framework along with the Men’s Behaviour Change Network have together developed a blueprint to end sexual assault and domestic and family violence in NSW called A Safer State. The blueprint itself and Key Recommendations are both available for download online
- New research has been released on the prevalence of street harassment in Australia, with 87% of women experiencing at least one form of harassment and one quarter of women being threatened after rejecting sexual advances
Get Involved!
- Professor Marilyn Waring’s recent speech on the ‘economics of dignity’ as the 2015 Pamela Denoon Lecture will be broadcast tomorrow, Tuesday 17 March at 8:05pm EST on ABC’s Radio National
- Julie McKay, Executive Director of the Australian National Committee for UN Women, has created a list of 6 actions you can take to accelerate progress towards gender equality
- Associate Professor Sharon Hayes from the Queensland University of Technology is conducting a survey on attitudes to sexual harassment and assault. Complete the survey by clicking here
- Registrations are open for It’s Time To Talk Conference 2015: The Impacts of Domestic Violence on Families – a free conference for entry level workers in the community services sector in Bankstown NSW on 27 May 2015 5:30-8:30pm
- 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. Applications close 31 March
- You can still get involved with the action during the second week of 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.