At Weave we believe we all have a responsibility to create a society where domestic and family violence and abuse is never accepted.
We are committed to continuing to advocate for systemic change and playing our part to end violence against women.
Each year, during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, we focus on different aspects of domestic and family violence and abuse through our Be The Change Campaign.
Here you will find evidence-based information about the context and drivers of gender-based violence.
Understanding the actions we must take to prevent violence against women can help us all #BeTheChange
Gender-based violence occurs in all communities right across Australia, but violence against women is preventable.
To prevent violence against women we need to understand it.
What is violence against women?
‘Violence against women means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
– United Nations
Violence against women occurs in all cultures, communities and across all demographics including age, gender and socio-economic status and can be:
- physical
- psychological
- sexual
- financial
- spiritual and cultural
- emotional
Violence against women has profound and long-term impacts on women’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, on their children and on families.
What is often not as well recognised or understood is the impact that violence against women has on communities, the economy and on society as a whole. It is because of these significant, widespread individual and social impacts that investment in prevention – the cultural change required to stop this violence from occurring in the first place – is so critical.
What drives violence against women?
International and national research tells us that gender inequality creates the underlying conditions for violence against women to occur.
There is a strong and consistent link between gender inequality and violence against women. Gender inequality is where women and men do not have equal social status, power, resources or opportunities, and their voices, ideas and work are not valued equally by society. It exists at many levels in our society – from how we view and value men and women, to economic factors like the pay gap between men and women, to family and relationship roles and expectations.
The gendered drivers of men’s violence against women are the factors that most consistently predict this violence at a population level, and explain its gendered patterns.
These factors are termed ‘gendered drivers’ because they arise from gender-discriminatory institutional, social and economic structures, social and cultural norms, and organisational, community, family and relationship practices that together create environments in which women and men are not considered equal, and violence against women is both more likely, and more likely to be tolerated and even condoned.
What is intersectionality?
While the gendered drivers of violence arise from the broader social context of gender inequality, they also intersect with other forms of oppression, discrimination and disadvantage, making an intersectional approach to prevention essential.
Many forms of inequality influence the prevalence, dynamics and experiences of violence against women. Gender inequality intersects with other forms of inequality and oppression including:
- Racism
- Ableism
- Ageism
- Heteronormativity
- Cissexism
- Class discrimination
- and – for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women – the ongoing impacts of colonialism.
Intersectionality emerged as a theoretical lens developed from Black feminist theory and activism in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States.
It grew out of the realisation that the feminist movement did not represent the experience of all women and, as bell hooks writes, presented a challenge to the idea that ‘”gender” was the primary factor determining a woman’s fate’.
“Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw wrote about intersectionality as a framework for understanding the ways that different dimensions of identity (specifically race and gender) interact and influence each other and create unique experiences of violence for women of colour.”
- Safe + Equal – Intersectionality in Primary Prevention
The framework of Intersectionality has developed over time as a way to analyse and change the ways that multiple and overlapping experiences of oppression impact individuals and communities.
In the context of violence against women, an intersectional lens allows us to look at how family and gender-based violence occurs in the context of both gender inequality and multiple other forms of structural and systemic inequality, oppression and discrimination.
We believe it is critical to take an intersectional approach to preventing violence against women. We must ensure primary prevention programs, systems and policies recognise and address the multiple forms of oppression and disadvantage that exacerbate the experiences of gender inequality and gender-based violence.
Experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience disproportionate rates of violence as a result of intersecting drivers of violence, which include:
- Ongoing impacts of colonisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities
- Gendered drivers
- Impacts of colonisation on society
Challenging misconceptions about violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
- Violence is not part of traditional Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander cultures
- Violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is perpetrated by Indigenous and non-Indigenous men
- Alcohol is a contributing factor, and often a trigger for violence, but it is not the ‘cause’
Ongoing impacts of colonisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities
- Intergenerational and collective trauma
- Systemic oppression
- Disempowerment
- Racism
- Destruction/disruption of traditional cultures family and community relationships and community norms about violence
- Personal experience of/exposure to violence
- Condoning of violence within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
Gendered drivers
- Men’s control of decision making and limits to women’s independence
- Stereotyped constructions of masculinity and femininity
- Disrespect towards women and male peer relations that emphasise aggression
- Additional gendered drivers of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
- Intersection of racism and sexism
- Impacts of colonial patriarchy on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, gender roles, men, women and relationships
Impacts of colonisation on society:
- Racialised structural inequalities of power
- Entrenched racism in social norms, attitudes and practices
- Perpetration of racist violence
- Condoning of, and insufficient accountability for, violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Our Watch’s ‘Changing the picture’ Framework discusses the many complex factors that make up each driver and the interactions between them in more detail.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience violence that is often more severe and more complex in its impacts.
The probability of violence against women is higher when the consequences of gender inequality intersect with the impact of other forms of inequality and discrimination such as racism, colonisation and dispossession.
Challenging racism and addressing the ongoing impacts of colonisation is critical to ending violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
Essential prevention actions
The intersection between these multiple drivers results in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experiencing disproportionate levels of violence, with particularly severe and complex impacts. Responding to current extreme levels of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is critical. But to prevent this violence from happening in the first place, we need actions that directly address its three underlying drivers.
Address the legacies and ongoing impacts of colonisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities
- Heal the impacts of intergenerational trauma, strengthening culture,identity and self-determination
- Strengthen and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families
- Implement specific initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls, boys and men, and children and young people
- Challenge the condoning of violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- Increase access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Address the legacies and ongoing impacts of colonisation for non-Indigenous people, and across Australian society
- Challenge and prevent all forms of racism, indifference, ignorance and disrespect towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and cultures
- Address racialised power inequalities and amend discriminatory policies and practices
- Challenge the condoning of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Address the gendered drivers of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
- Implement intersectional approaches to preventing violence against women across the Australian population
- Challenge the condoning of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women by challenging both racist and sexist attitudes and social norms
- Support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s participation in leadership and decision making
- Challenge gender stereotypes, and the impacts of colonisation on men’s and women’s roles, relationships and identities
- Strengthen positive, equal and respectful relationships between women and men, girls and boys
- Engage both Indigenous and non-Indigenous men to challenge harmful and violence-supportive ideas about masculinity and relationships
Sources
Our Watch
Change the story. A shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women in Australia (second edition).
Our Watch
Change the picture. A national resource to support the prevention of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their children.
Safe + Equal
Intersectionality in Primary Prevention
Safe + Equal
What Causes Family Violence
