Weekly Round-up* 22 March 2016

The sixtieth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60) continues this week! Julie Oberin, Margaret Augerinos, Bonney Corbin and Maria Delaney, AWAVA’s delegates at CSW60, have been updating us all week. Follow us (@AWAVA_women) on twitter to keep up to date with the meeting. For more on CSW60, follow this link to The Gender Agency’s comprehensive blog!

Around the Country

• AWAVA joined over 80 other family violence experts and community groups in delivering a letter to the Prime Minister, calling for major increases in the upcoming budget to address critical shortages in domestic and family violence funding. Read the letter here. There is still time for organisations to sign on.
• A submission by the Australian Cross Disability Alliance to a Senate committee inquiry has pointed out that 90 per cent of women with an intellectual disability have been subjected to sexual abuse.
  [This article contains content that may be distressing for some readers]
• Jenna Price has written about the disturbing societal expectations of how women must behave in order to be believed in cases of sexual assault. [This article contains content that may be distressing for some readers]
• Professor Miranda Stewart from the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University has written a piece in The Conversation, advocating for a Women’s Budget Statement and gender analysis of tax and expenditure policy in the upcoming budget.
• Also in NSW, schools across the state will this week begin teaching students about how to identify domestic violence and what to do if they witness it.
• The Australian Government has provided $2.5 million to WESNET to distribute smartphones contributed by Telstra and to provide training under the Safe Technology for Women measure, which is part of the $100 million Women’s Safety Package announced last September.

 

Around the World

• In Scotland, the Scottish Government has recently announced support for a project aimed at preventing gender-based violence at Strathclyde University.
• In Egypt, prominent human rights organisation, El Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence faces the threat of closure.
• In Iran, activists from around the country are participating in the Open Stadiums movement, a campaign aimed at supporting women’s participation in sport and access to public spaces.

Get Involved!

• Marai Larasi and Prof Rashida Manjoo will be the keynote speakers for the AWAVA/ Our Watch international conference on violence against women (19 to 22 September 2016). Find out more and sign on for email updates at our website!
• The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) is conducting research on domestic and family violence and its impact on parenting. Participation involves an interview with a senior researcher, usually over the phone. Please call 1800 720 142 (free using a landline, rates apply with a mobile) or email [email protected] for more information.
• ANROWS invites applications for funding under the Perpetrator Interventions Research Stream,  closing on 28 April 2016
• Our member organisation, Ruby Gaea, is running a campaign for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which is held every April. The goal of Sexual Assault Awareness Month is to raise public awareness about sexual violation, and to educate communities and individuals about how to prevent sexual assault. This Awareness Month, Ruby Gaea is encouraging the community to take action and organise an event at your school or workplace on the International Day of Action on April 5. For more information or ideas on events, please contact Ruby Gaea’s education team on [email protected] or 08 8945 0155.
• 1800 Respect is running a webinar titled, ‘Understanding the complexities in LGBTIQ domestic and family violence’ on April 21 at 1pm AEST. Register here!
• The Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International (NNVAWI) invites individuals interested in presenting at the 21st NNVAWI conference to submit presentation abstracts. The theme of the conference is ‘Strengthening healthcare systems to promote safety and health of women and families’ and will be held on 26, 27 and 28 October. The deadline for abstracts has now been postponed to 15 April here!