Everyone deserves to live with safety, dignity and freedom.
INFORMATION ON PREVENTING VIOLENCE
Women’s Health Matters has developed the following projects and resources:
Violence against women and gender diverse people is a global public health issue with serious consequences for health and wellbeing. This violence is often based on inequality and harmful attitudes and norms about gender, sexuality and power. Men are most commonly the perpetrators of physical violence, sexual harassment and sexual violence (Our Watch, 2024).
One term to describe these kinds of violence is gender-based violence. You can learn more about gender-based violence here.
Many women and gender diverse people in Australia are subjected to some form of violence across their lifetimes. These forms of violence may include:
• sexual violence
• sexual harassment
• domestic violence
• family violence
• violence by carers or within institutions
Gender-based violence is one of the main factors in illness and disability for women. Unfortunately, many people do not have the safety they need, or the opportunity to recover and heal from violence. But this can be changed.
Together with many others, Women’s Health Matters works to help prevent violence and create a supportive community for people who have been subjected to it.
Our work includes:
• listening to and acting on what people tell us about their experiences of violence
• reducing inequality through our policy advocacy and health promotion work
• helping to change harmful norms that underpin violence
• improving people’s access to health services and other support they deserve to recover and heal from the impacts of violence, and
• working with the health system to make sure it treats people with respect for their decisions and care for their safety
Please contact our Violence Prevention Coordinator, Ursula, at u.deruyter@womenshealthmatters.org.au if you would like to speak to someone in Women’s Health Matters about our work on gender-based violence.
If you are experiencing domestic, family or sexual violence, please know you are not alone and help is available.
• Phone 000 if you are in immediate danger.
• 1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family and sexual violence service. They can be contacted on 1800 737 732 or www.1800respect.org.au for 24/7 confidential information, counselling and support.
• The Domestic Violence Crisis Service 24/7 crisis intervention line can be contacted on 02 6280 0900 and further information can be found at www.dvcs.org.au.
• The Canberra Rape Crisis Centre crisis line can be contacted on 02 6247 2525 between 7am and 11pm seven days a week and further information can be found at www.crcc.org.au.