Preventing violence against women is everyone’s responsibility, says a Warrnambool women’s advocate.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Women's Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West chief executive officer Emily Lee-Ack said recent murders, including Melbourne comedian Eurydice Dixon, reinforced attitudes towards women had to change.
“What Eurydice’s murder shows is that we have a long way to go before we can assume the world’s a safer place for women.
“I think that needs to be understood not only in the local context of this individual crime but also knowing that police in Victoria respond to domestic violence once every seven minutes.
“Women are living daily with threats to their physical safety. Just saying no to violence or pledging not to be violent is not enough to create a community where women are genuinely safe.
“We’re comfortable with saying to young women ‘you can be powerful, you can be strong and forthright’ but we don’t say to young men ‘you can be gentle, accommodating and you can be thoughtful’ so the words we use to talk about girls and boys and women and men and the way that creates an interaction between us, is part of the community that leads to that polarisation between women and men.”
She said actions spoke louder than words and people needed to call out attitudes or behaviours that weren’t respectful.
Ms Lee-Ack said conversations with young people were needed to initiate change.
“Having a conversation with our kids about why it is they think that’s something girls do or why is it you think that’s something that boys do is just one of the ways that we can start to have the conversations to get everyone to think really critically about why things are the way they are.
“A lot of people will tell you this is just the way things are and it’s the way it’s always been and men are a particular way and women are a particular way and it has ever been thus.
“I’m hopeful, even though there’s a long way to go, that there’s great opportunity for us to change who we are and to keep people safer.”