Domestic Violence in Australia...Short Overview

My family migrated to Australia at the turn of the decade moving into the 1980s. Having been in Australia only a short time, I recall watching an interviewer walk the streets, talking with random people about domestic violence. I will never forget the interviewee who matter-of-factly said that, if his wife annoyed him, he had the right to 'belt' her. As far as I can recall, the issue of whether or not husbands had the right to hit wives, was openly discussed at that time, in this country.

Dr Michael Woods, writing in his report The rhetoric and reality of men and Violence, says that research into the phenomenon we call DV, began in the 1970s and 1980s. Perception of the problem was apparently generated by feminists, and referred to serious physical violence. DV was understood by reference to a thing called the Duluth Model, which runs as follows;

“Domestic violence is a mechanism that oppresses women and maintains male power over women. Therefore domestic violence is gendered violence. Its focus is on the structural power differentials between males and females and how these are played out at the level of intimate relationships where men abuse power to maintain control over women. Male structural power in the public domain is reproduced in the private domain”.(Partners Against DV, 2005)

Domestic violence was seen as something generally done to women, by men. It was seen as being a result of power imbalance in the male-female relationship, which was exacerbated by the way that imbalances in male-female relationships in the private sphere (home, family) were repeated in the public sphere (work, political life etc.).

Woods paper inclines toward the view that the incidence and seriousness of violence toward women is over-stated in Australia. He writes;

“Hyperbole and exaggeration – as well as mistruths – can be found fairly readily in various public statements by a number of organisations. For example, the “White Ribbon Day” campaign sponsored by UNIFEM currently claims on its website (September 20th, 2007) that: over two thirds of women have experienced violence since the age of 15”, citing the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2006) as their source. Unfortunately for the credibility of the White Ribbon Day, The ABS (2006) Personal Safety Survey reports that a total of 39.9% of women (and 51.1% of men) have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence since the age of 15. The ABS (2006) also notes that only 3% of Australian women were found to have experienced any form of physical assault in the past 12 months (less than half the rate of assaults on males). A further problem for such statements is that the White Ribbon Day site insinuates that all violence against women is perpetrated by men, and most of this by intimate partners. However their data source, the ABS (2006), reveals that approximately 30% of violence against women was perpetrated by other women, and that women are more likely to be assaulted by family members, friends or acquaintances than by their male partners, current or previous.

A look at the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures will show that Woods himself misrepresents ABS reports. The ABS says that;

In 2005, the vast majority (90% or 359,000) of women who had experienced violence from a partner in the last five years had experienced physical violence. Most (79%) had been physically assaulted, and 21% had been physically threatened.

That is, in 2005, 359,000 women (nearly half a million women) had experienced violence from a partner in the past five years. Most of those women had been assaulted, and many had been threatened. This small excerpt shows that Woods himself uses language that implies the numbers of Australian women experiencing violence are not as high as 'implied', 'insinuated', untruthfully claimed and hyperbolated, by various anti-violence organisations and the Australian government. He gives the impression that the figures are deliberately conflated so as to give an impression favourable to the view that too many women experience domestic violence. He appears to see all this as a feminist conspiracy.

A look at Woods claims, along with reference to current ABS figures are a useful place to move Australia's domestic violence history into the present. Australia still wrestles with acknowledging and addressing the problem of violence against women. These days, we say the right thing; “To Violence Against Women, Australia Says “No!” Government at every level promotes this. The media says this. Schools teach it. Behind the scenes, a flourishing men's movement , strongly anti-feminist, given to claiming that the difficulties women face are a feminist 'beat up', clamour to be heard. Thus in Australia, we have an undercurrent of disbelief and disapproval directed toward the publication and broadcasting of information about domestic violence.