This is how we stop men's violence in Australia.
Balancing changing culture with practical support.
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Beyond ‘Changing Attitudes’: Practical Solutions To Reduce Men’s Violence Against Women ASAP
Already, 2024 is turning out to be a horror year for men’s violence against women. One woman being violently killed by a man every four days. The fear and justified rage is filling public discourse, with urgent calls for those in power and the authorities to do something and desperate pleas for men to change their attitudes.
Australia is a deeply misogynistic and patriarchal society. Changing social beliefs and a culture that generally maintains very rigid, traditional gender roles is an important part of ending violence against women… but it’s a long term play. If we focus too much on talking about ‘social attitudes’, we’re at risk of ignoring more practical measures that help stop violence in the short and medium term. Much like the discussion around mental health, we need to balance changing culture with practical support.
This piece explains some of the things that can be changed ASAP to prevent violence, while the effort to change attitudes continues in the background. It’s the result of three days reading a lot about the topic.
These tangible actions are what we need to push governments to fund and facilitate.
A note on the The National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032: In 2022, the federal and state governments release the 10-year plan to end gendered violence. It’s quite comprehensive, covering multiple areas of focus including a dedicated plan for First Nations women, and gives specific targets to be achieved in each section. It includes actions points that are covered in this article too, some of which have started being implemented (for example, policies to close the gender pay gap). This is a general summary of the plan from The Conversation.
But the most important criticism of the Plan is that it doesn’t tell us how any of the strategies will be measured for their effectiveness. A goal as ambitious as “ending gendered violence in one generation” should have a very clear measurement process, otherwise it’s unlikely to succeed.
Improve access to mental health & related therapies:
Improving access to mental health treatment, related therapies and support services is non-negotiable, not only for victim-survivors and children, but for the perpetrators of violence too.
This includes expanding the access for therapeutic services like psychology and psychiatry, but also support and peer programs. Perpetrators and men who might be deemed at-risk of committing violence (against anyone) should also get significant support and guidance if prevention means stopping this person’s next immediate instance of violence fro occurring. Tabitha Acret’s daughter, Mackenzie Anderson, was killed by an ex in 2022 – on Monday night, Tabitha said on ABC Q&A: “We need some kind of counselling in there. We need rehabilitation… We have failed [these men] at some point, and that’s how they’ve got there.”
Abuse and trauma are incredibly cyclical – a child’s experience of family violence or abuse is linked to the likelihood they will be an adult victim or perpetrator in the future. Interrupting the cycles of intergenerational trauma with culturally-informed therapy and helping families actually heal will prevent violence in the immediate, medium and long term.
Financial empowerment of women & people in general:
Gendered violence is correlated with poverty; not only are financially-vulnerable women more at risk of experiencing abuse, but experiencing abuse also puts women in poverty (leaving them unable to work or making them a sole parent).
Federal and state governments must work together to pass policies that will financially empower women, including: affordable childcare, affordable housing (including more crisis housing), affordable health and mental health service (as outlined above); increasing social welfare payments to above the poverty line; closing the gender pay gap, especially by increasing the pay rates for feminised industries. Taken together, policies like these help ensure women have the resources to leave a dangerous relationship if they need to.
There have been recent positive developments in some of these areas. For example the single parenting payment used to stop once a child turned 8, but in 2023 it was increased to age 14. The payment amount itself is still not enough. Mandating that companies over 100 employees report their gender pay gap was also a step in the right direction.
But as with so many of these solutions, Australia could and should be doing more, sooner.
Many of these policies would also help men experiencing poverty or financial vulnerability. As financial stress is very closely linked to poor mental health, if the narrative that struggling with mental health causes men to be violent is true… these economic policies should reduce men’s violence by reducing the financial burden of people across the country.
At the National Cabinet meeting this morning, the government announced the Leaving Violence Program, a one-off payment of $5000 for ‘eligible’ victim-survivors to help them leave violent relationships. To be clear, a one-off payment is not financial empowerment.
Alternatives models for accountability and justice:
At an emergency National Cabinet meeting this morning, the Prime Minister and State Premiers are considering changes to policing for ‘serial’ offenders, including creating a national register for violent offenders and GPS tracking. For men who aren’t considered serial offenders, we need to introduce methods of accountability and justice that are shown by research to reduce repeat offending…
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