Take a Stand Program

Take a Stand is an award-winning program that supports workplaces to prevent and address violence against women. The program supports workplaces to become leaders in taking a stand against all forms of gender-based violence, while promoting respectful and safe workplaces for all.

In 2007 the program was the first of its kind in Australia and has now been refreshed in 2022 according to the latest evidence in prevention. This program continues to lead the way as a workplace prevention program, recognising that workplaces play a key role in changing a culture that allows this violence to occur.

Did you know:

• In 2018, workplace sexual harassment cost $3.5 billion (Australian Human Rights Commission 2020)
• Employers bore 70% of the financial costs of this Harassment (Australian Human Rights Commission 2020)

Research shows workplaces engaging in gender equity work can enjoy the following benefits:

• Gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to notice higher financial returns. (McKinsey)
• Diverse companies are 70% more likely to capture new markets. (HBR)
• Diverse teams are 87% better at making decisions. (People Management)
• Inclusive organisations are 47% more likely to retain staff. (McKinsey, 2022)
• Millennials are 83% more likely to be engaged at work at inclusive companies. (Deloitte)

Take a Stand has been delivered to thousands of employees in diverse workplaces, including large corporations such as Linfox and Aurizon, not-for-profits such as Oxfam Australia and government agencies, including local councils and Victoria Police.

Program objectives

Take a Stand is a positive bystander program that engages all levels of the workplace in the prevention of violence against women.  This evidence-based program is based on the positive bystander model which engages all levels of the workplace, using a staged approach:

Lead: Facilitated workshop for leadership group.

Train & Promote: Build skills, knowledge and confidence of staff through a tailored training bundle including how to respond to disclosures, understanding gender inequality's impact on the workplace and how to prevent violence against women through bystander action.

Support: Built in sessions with an expert to ensure sustainability and long-term change.

Why Take a Stand?

Take a Stand is a complete program, with support and training packaged to guide your organisation to build capacity and work towards a more respectful and responsive culture. The program is fully accessible online, working with a prevention expert from Women’s Health Victoria. 

Tailored Program structure

A needs assessment will ascertain the type of training and support required for your organisation and a package will be developed to meet those needs.

This package could include components such as an online short course in the Prevention of Violence Against Women for all your staff, a facilitated workshop for leaders, workforce capacity building via interactive training according to your needs and an option to license WHV’s Gender Equality and Prevention of Violence Against Women Microcredentials for ongoing use. The program also offers support to your implementation team to ensure engagement and sustainability of the program.

Investment

Cost and time to support the delivery of the Take A Stand program will vary according to the training needs identified in the initial needs assessment. The program will include training options from the Women’s Health Victoria’s Gender Equality and Prevention of Violence Against Women Microcredentials as well as our online short courses, and interactive courses The package will be crafted to meet your workforce needs and will be offered at a discounted rate compared to the per person registration costs of these individual courses.

Target audience

Take a Stand is right for any workplace that wishes to implement a whole of organisation approach to the prevention of violence against women in the workplace, and it does not presume any existing knowledge on the subject by the workforce.

Make your workplace one that contributes to the prevention of violence against women!

For more information on how to start your prevention investment have a conversation with our training team about how Take a Stand can be tailored to suit your workplace.