29th November 2023
FEMICIDE IN AUSTRALIA
The Australian Women & Gender Studies Association (AWGSA) recognises its position, operating on unceded, sovereign lands of Australia’s First Peoples. We acknowledge Australia’s colonial history and its impact on families, communities and everyday lives of First Nations’ Peoples. Guided by the Uluru Statement from the Heart, we recognise the systemic, structural and institutional violence that has continued to affect First Nations Peoples, including dispossessing histories of this continent and its islands.
At AWGSA, we take our ability to respond to issues of national significance seriously and are deeply committed to social justice. We acknowledge intersectional oppressions occur through racism, heteronormativity, ableism, classism, cissexism, ageism, and the ongoing impacts of colonialism.
Gendered violence is recognised as a global health problem. In Australia, on average one women a week is murdered, most often in their own home by a man they know.[1] Intimate partner violence contributes to more illness, disability and death in women aged 15-44 than any other preventable risk factor, with over 45 women murdered each year in Australia alone.[2]
Most cases of femicide are preceded by a pattern of control in the relationship. This can include (but not always) psychological and/or physical threats and assault and most are committed by current or former partners.[3] It is important to note that coercive control does not always include physical violence and can take many forms, such as financial abuse, social isolation, threats to children, stalking, digital abuse, reproductive coercion, etc.
Gender-based fatal violence is preventable. Gendered violence is underpinned by socially dominant norms of gender stereotypes, including aggressive masculinity and sexist attitudes and behaviours that are systemic and structurally embedded.[4] Reinforced by the institutions and systems that perpetrate victim-blaming, rape culture, ‘the good guy’ myth, and the dismissal of intimate partner violence as a personal affair, femicide is a national concern.
We also recognise that men account for roughly two-thirds of homicide victims in Australia, most often victims of other men. [1] At AWGSA, we believe gender stereotypes negatively impact all Australians and reinforce power imbalances that undermine our progress to an inclusive, equitable and safe society. We believe more attention needs to be drawn to the occurrences of femicide, to highlight the systems that fail to support women in danger. Prevention is possible.
References:
[1] Bricknell S 2023. Homicide in Australia 2020–21. Statistical Report no. 42. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.52922/sr78979; Cullen, P, Vaughan, G, Li, Z et al. 2019. ‘Counting Dead Women in Australia: An In-Depth Case Review of Femicide’. Journal of Family Violence, 34, 1–8. https: 10.1007/s10896-018-9963-6; Our Watch 2021. Change the story: A shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women in Australia (second edition). https://media-cdn.ourwatch.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/18101814/Change-the-story-Our-Watch-AA.pdf
[2] Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Social Services) 2022. National Plan to End Violence
against Women and Children 2022-2032. https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/11_2022/national_plan_to_end_violence_against_women_and_children_2022-2032.pdf; Counting Dead Women Australia n.d. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063733051461
[3] Bricknell S 2023; Cullen et al. 2019
[4] Eriksson, L., McPhedran, S., Mazerolle, P., & Wortley, R. (2022). Gendered Entitlement or Generally Violent? Sociodemographic, Developmental, and Gender-Based Attitudinal Characteristics of Men Who Commit Homicide. Homicide Studies, 0(0). https: 10.1177/10887679221079801
