Over 500,000 women experienced physical or sexual violence or assault in 2013.
As the Victorian Commissioner of Police put it, 50% of violence occurs behind closed doors. According to a recent Vic Health study, one in five Australians believes a woman is partly responsible for rape if she is drunk and one in six believes that women say “no” to sex when they mean “yes”.
In another ground breaking study conducted by Anglicare in WA, results found that most respondents commonly experienced humiliation and degradation, with one quarter confirming that they had been punched, kicked, pushed, choked or slapped, and 11 per cent being victims of forced sexual contact and coercion.
And behind these closed doors are children: 40% of police callouts are now for domestic violence. Children who live in an environment where there is violent behaviour are more likely to model that behaviour in adult life than the rest of society. This is borne out in a report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, which cites evidence to suggest that an estimated one-third of children who are subjected to child abuse and neglect go on to repeat patterns of abusive parenting towards their own children or children in their care.
Working to break the vicious cycle.
Clearly, growing up in an abusive family environment can teach children that the use of violence and aggression is a viable means for dealing with interpersonal conflict, which can increase the likelihood that the cycle of violence will continue when they reach adulthood.
But the generational cycle doesn’t stop there. Women are particularly vulnerable as the research suggests that women who were victimised as children are at risk of re-victimisation in later life. Findings from the Australian component of the International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS) indicated that 72% of women who experienced either physical or sexual abuse as a child also experienced violence in adulthood, compared to 43% of women who did not experience childhood abuse. Further to this, a review of approximately 90 sexual victimisation studies found that over 30 studies had reported a link between child sexual assault and sexual re-victimisation in adulthood.
These studies remind us that there are elements of our national character that need confronting. If we don’t, there will be little change. We can no longer be ‘tyre kickers’ when it comes to Domestic Violence, given the prevalence and impact it has on society, and in particular on Australian women and children. We may be concerned as a nation on the issue, but still yet not fully committed to stamping this element out of our national psyche.
We are seeing the changing societal view of depression from one of shame to one of admission, which is liberating the issue and allowing us to address it.
The surveys referred to show the issue of Family Violence needs to take the same path.
We need a national conversation.
We need to bring our men into the conversation to ensure we are seeing the back of these findings, and need to seek leadership from our Governments to leading the nation’s conversation, resources and capabilities in making women and children safer and assured in our community.
Just as the authorities introduced the idea of being ‘alert but not alarmed’ to any possible terror threat, so too should we instil the mantra of being ‘alert’ to the signs of domestic violence. If the figures are to be believed, far too many Australians – children included – are living in fear and learning to perpetuate the cycle. It’s a national fault in our makeup and at epidemic proportions that must not be allowed to spread.
Paul McDonald
Chief Executive Officer
Anglicare Victoria
