Page 927 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 30 March 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The National Strategy on Violence Against Women itself brings forward a set of propositions that need promoting in the wider community to redress old notions of the rights of men to be violent against women. These are:
violence against women can never be justified;
violence against women cannot be attributed to the effects of alcohol;
violence against women is not caused by environmental factors;
violence against women is not a product of unemployment -
all of which are corollaries of the first proposition -
violence against women is a social issue, not just an individual problem; and
violence against women is a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between men and women; it reflects the inferior status and the paucity of respect afforded women.
The strategy makes a statement which I feel must be the starting point for all further treatment of the issue, and that is:
To be effective, strategies aimed at the elimination of violence against women must be based on facts, not myths.
I am pleased that the objectives of the strategy give a good framework on which to start building with this very simple notion that facts and not myths should drive any attempts to reduce violence against women. It is, however, sad that after several years of domestic violence legislation in Australian States we still have as the first objective:
To ensure that all women escaping violence have immediate access to police intervention and legal protection which prioritise safety for the woman, safe shelter, confidential services and the longer-term resources needed to live independently and free from violence.
That objective should have been achieved with the States' and Territories' domestic violence legislation. The fact that it has not, and that after incidents of domestic violence women continue to feel under pressure to lay charges and to take responsibility for the charging of the offender, is a damning indictment of our systems for dealing with violence. This pressure often makes it impossible for these women to feel that they have the protection of the law and safety.
Indeed, it is often remarked by police that a major frustration in dealing with domestic violence is that women who have been assaulted are reluctant to testify in court or prefer charges. The fact is that they do not have to prefer charges; the police do. The Domestic Violence Act allows police to charge alleged offenders with assault under the Crimes Act. A reluctant witness is just that - a reluctant witness. We need to work hard on this first objective to ensure that everyone who suffers domestic violence assault not only receives immediate help from the police but does not feel alone and vulnerable when the police have gone and knows that the perpetrator cannot get to them.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .