Prevention of gender-based violence
- Intimate partner violence is the leading cause of death, disability and illness in Australian women aged 18-44 years.
- Gender-based violence has profound, wide ranging and long-term impacts on the health and wellbeing of women and children, families and communities.
- Three in ten Australian women report having experienced physical violence at least once in their lives, and two in ten women report having experienced sexual violence at least once in their lives.
- Almost one woman each week is killed by a current or former partner.
- In 2015-16 Victoria Police attended almost 24 family violence incidents each day in the Eastern Metropolitan Region.
What we are doing
We tackle the root causes of gender based violence — unequal power and gender inequality. We take a primary prevention approach that aims to stop violence before it happens by addressing the causes of violence and by promoting safe, respectful and equal relationships. We do this work in partnership with local organisations including through the Together for Equality & Respect partnership, the Speaking Out program and the LGBTI Family Violence Prevention Project.
Together for Equality & Respect
Women’s Health East is the lead agency for Together for Equality & Respect: Preventing gender-based violence in Melbourne’s East 2013 – 2021. The Strategy provides partner organisations with the opportunity to work together to prioritise, coordinate and integrate primary prevention efforts to prevent men’s gender-based violence.
Thirty-five organisations from the Eastern Metropolitan Region, have been actively involved in the consultation and/or development of this Strategy. These partners together created a powerful vision, articulating what they believe this Strategy can contribute to:
A society where women live free from men’s violence – where every girl and boy grows up to be equally valued, heard and respected, and with equal access to opportunities.
You can read more about the evidence that underpins the Together for Equality & Respect Strategy or learn about the Action Plan and how the Strategy is contributing to the prevention of gender-based violence in the Eastern Metropolitan Region by visiting the Together for Equality & Respect website.
Get the Go Ahead
Women’s Health East is proud to share Get the Go-Ahead! Created in partnership with Youth Disability Advocacy Service, Get the Go-Ahead is a set of resources about affirmative consent, disability, and sexual and reproductive rights.
These resources were codesigned and co-produced by a group of Disabled young people connected to the Eastern region. The voices and perspectives of Disabled young people are at the centre of this work, and their experience and expertise have helped to create accessible, meaningful, and engaging material.
The resources explain the affirmative consent legislation in plain English, share reflections from Disabled young people about sex, relationships, and accessibility, and share advice for workers on how to have supportive, meaningful conversations with Disabled young people.
Check them out in video and text at gtga.org.au!
Margins to the Mainstream
The Margins to the Mainstream: preventing violence against women with disabilities project was developed in response to the prevalence and seriousness of violence against women with disabilities.
It extended from the years of collaborative work undertaken by the Together For Equality and Respect (TFER) partnership on the primary prevention of violence against women. It builds on the partners’ commitment to deepening intersectional practice (see TFER Strategy here) in the eastern metropolitan area of Melbourne.
The project is led by Women’s Health East, in partnership with Women with Disabilities Victoria (WDV), and the Together For Equality & Respect partnership.
Speaking Out Program: Advocacy to end family violence and sexual assault
The Speaking Out program ensures that the voices of women who have experienced family violence and sexual assault are heard through the media and public events. Led by Women’s Health East, in partnership with the Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault (ECASA) and the Eastern Domestic Violence Service (EDVOS), the program seeks to influence a change in community attitudes and to promote the prevention of gender-based violence.
CURRENTLY HIDDEN
Established in 2011, the program’s main objectives are:
- To provide opportunities for women who have experienced violence to undertake advocacy;
- To recognise the importance of women’s voices and ensure that the voices of survivor advocates are heard;
- To contribute to a more accurate, sensitive and gender equitable public discourse on gender-based violence;
- To contribute to changing community attitudes and behaviours towards gender-based violence.
The Speaking Out program provides an opportunity for the community to hear from women survivors of sexual assault and family violence and to learn about the role we can all play in ending gender-based violence in our community.
Survivor advocates can share not just their own stories of survival but can provide insight and expertise on how we can as a community prevent gender-based violence.
Our advocates can:
- Provide personal insights on the impact of sexual assault and family violence
- Challenge commonly held beliefs around sexual assault and family violence
- Inform the development and review of services and systems, by sharing knowledge and experience of the sexual assault and family violence service sector
- Inform the development and review of workplace policies, and guide employers and colleagues to support women who have experienced sexual assault and family violence
- Correct misconceptions and stereotypes about victims
- Encourage the community to take action to prevent gender-based violence.
To find out more or to book an advocate for an event or media opportunity, please contact Women’s Health East on 9851 3700 or health@whe.org.au.
LGBTI Family Violence Prevention Project
Women’s Health East welcomes funding from the Victorian government to deliver a ground-breaking participatory project to help prevent family violence in LGBTI relationships.
This innovative project is an Australian first. It will support LGBTI young people to recognise and develop, healthy, equal and respectful relationships, and encourage local providers to identify and respond to the discrimination and violence faced by LGBTI young people.
Women’s Health East will work with LGBTI young people to investigate and co-design appropriate and relevant resources. These resources will be disseminated across the state to support the development of respectful relationships.
See our media release about the project here.
