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Violence Against Women

Why is the prevention of violence against women a priority?

Women's Health Victoria is committed to the prevention of violence against women. For Victorian women aged 15 to 44, violence is the leading contributor to death, disability and illness ¹. With one in three Victorian women experiencing intimate partner violence in their lifetime ², the health and economic costs are considerable. The prevention of violence against women is one of our priorities because:

Women who have experienced violence are more likely to suffer from mental health issues and ongoing physical conditions ¹.
Women represent nearly 90% of reported rapes and 76% of reported sexual assaults ³.
After financial difficulty, domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness in Victoria, with women and children still being forced in the majority of cases to flee the family home ⁵.
There are influences within Australian culture that encourage a tolerance of violence against women and discourage men from taking responsibility for their violence. This is evident in the reporting of violence, representations of women, and conviction rates for crimes involving violence against women ¹.

Working Together Against Violence project

One of the ways of preventing violence against women is to promote respectful and equal relationships between men and women. We do this through the VicHealth funded project, Working Together Against Violence.

Working Together Against Violence began in 2007 as a collaboration between Women's Health Victoria and our project partners: Linfox Australia, No To Violence Male Family Violence Prevention Association and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC).

The Working Together Against Violence project is now building on the success of the initial one year trial. We are extending our work with Linfox Australia. Working Together Against Violence has secured funding from VicHealth until July 2011.