There is an important discussion happening about violence against women: even if gender equality is necessary to end this violence, are governments being too complacent in accepting that rates of violence will not reduce until we achieve greater gender equality? Is primary prevention being used as a cover for lack of action on keeping [...]
An ongoing issue, not a new campaign. EROC Australia has noted that “rape and sexual assault are not new problems at Australian universities” and “student activists have been urging university administrators to address the high levels of sexual violence faced by women in university communities since at least the early 1970s”. The following examples of [...]
AWAVA recommends that, in working to end violence against women, all parties: Commit to co-designing policies and programs with the women’s services sector and community-led organisations Work with peaks, AWAVA and other representative bodies who are experts in the field Test proposals in conversation with the sector before deciding on them Avoid poorly-designed and ineffective [...]
Women’s safety advocates last week raised serious concerns about the Commonwealth’s grants program for ‘Specialised Family Violence Services’. This blog post recounts how the issue has progressed, outlines AWAVA’s concerns, and explains how this case exemplifies why the specialist women’s services sector needs to be involved in a process of co-design before grants go out [...]
On 2-3 July 2018, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women reviewed Australia's record on women's rights. As well as a report by the Australian Government, the CEDAW Committee was informed by civil society organisations, including AWAVA through our Shadow Report on violence against women. Other Australian NGOs and [...]
[Excerpt from AWAVA's Budget Analysis 2018-19] In terms of balancing revenue and spending measures, we believe that with an appropriate level of commitment there is scope to substantially increase funding under the National Plan. The Australian Government could recalibrate its funding to anti-terror and national security measures, in line with the huge disparity between [...]
On Friday 16 March 2018, Australian schools will stand united in their communities to celebrate the eighth National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. The National Day is a positive day of action, bringing school communities together to help find workable solutions that address bullying and violence. While there has been a lot [...]
Women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds report similar forms of domestic and family violence to other women. However, the impact of violence is exacerbated by the stressors of the migration experience generally, and the constraints of visa status, which may increase women’s dependency on perpetrators for economic security and residency rights. Visa dependency [...]
Today we are celebrating 70 years since the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. AWAVA recognises that violence against women and girls is one of the most serious and widespread violations of fundamental human rights. It manifests itself through violations of the rights to: life, equality and non-discrimination, rights not to be subjected to torture [...]
Tomorrow will mark the end of the #16Days of Activism to end violence against women. Over these 16 days AWAVA has been highlighting challenges of diverse groups of women, different manifestations and consequences of violence against women, as well as steps to be taken to end violence against women. We thank you all [...]
