Many people witness gendered violence in their own families. Many also experience it in their own relationships.
Key statistics
- Young women (18 to 34 years) experience much higher rates of physical and sexual violence than women in older age groups. [1]
- Young women (18 to 29 years) with disability are at twice the risk of sexual violence than young women without disability. [2]
- Trans, non-binary and gender diverse young people experience high rates of gendered violence online and in public.
- In Australia, gendered and family violence remains a leading cause of homelessness for girls and young women. People under the age of 25 make up 37% of all people experiencing homelessness. [3]
- Two in 5 women aged between 18 and 29 years have been sexually harassed online or with some form of technology. [4]
Young women and gender diverse people are increasingly experiencing harassment and abuse in online spaces. Young women are more likely to witness online racism or hateful comments towards particular cultural or religious groups, receive unwanted comments about their appearance and be told not to speak or have an opinion. [5] [6]
We will keep supporting schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respectful attitudes and behaviours through the Respectful Relationships initiative. Respectful Relationships teaches our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. Taking a whole-school approach works to embed a culture of respect and equality across an entire school community, from our classrooms to staffrooms, sporting fields, fetes and social events. This approach improves students’ academic outcomes, mental health, classroom behaviour and relationships with teachers.
We will also build on Free from violence to deliver programs for young people to prevent gendered violence, including education about affirmative consent.
We have changed the way we deal with sexual violence in Victoria. The Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Act 2022 includes amendments that will adopt an affirmative consent model and provide better protections for victim survivors of sexual offences. This will shift the scrutiny from victim survivors onto their perpetrators. The model will make it clear that everyone has a responsibility to get consent before engaging in sexual activity.
The Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Act 2022 also includes stronger laws to target image-based sexual abuse. This includes taking intimate videos of someone without their consent and distributing, or threatening to distribute, intimate images, including deepfake porn.
Case study: engaging boys and young men to prevent gendered violence
Rigid attachments to stereotypes of masculinity – such as aggression, dominance, control or hypersexuality – influence gendered violence. When we think of aggression and disrespect towards women as just being ‘one of the boys’, we are more likely to excuse violence towards women.
In 2023, we are supporting Jesuit Social Services to deliver an early intervention program with boys and young men aged 12 to 25 who are at risk of using violence against women. The program will:
- support conversations that challenge harmful masculinities
- promote more flexible ideas about what it means to be a man
- build the capacity of key workforces that engage with boys and young men to support them to live respectful, accountable and fulfilling lives.
We are funding this program through the National Partnership on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses. It is also a key program under Free from violence.
References
[1] Our Watch, Quick facts: violence against women, 2023, accessed 12 April 2023. https://www.ourwatch.org.au/quick-facts/
[2] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, People with Disability in Australia, AIHW, 2022, accessed 06 February 2023. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-au…
[3] Australian Bureau of Statistics, Estimating Homelessness: Census, ABS, 2023, accessed 20 April 2023. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/housing/estimating-homelessnes…
[4] AHRC, Everyone’s business: fourth national survey on sexual harassment in workplaces, AHRC, 2018, accessed 11 July 2022. https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/AHR…
[5] eSafety Commissioner, Young people’s experience with online hate, bullying and violence, 2023, accessed 12 April 2023. https://www.esafety.gov.au/research/young-people-social-cohesion/online…
[6] eSafety Commissioner, Know the facts about women online, accessed 20 March 2023. https://www.esafety.gov.au/women/know-facts-about-women-online
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