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Women's Safety

Men’s use of violence against women is a significant public health issue with serious social, economic and health consequences for women, their families and communities. Violence is the biggest cause of death, disability and illness for women aged 15–45 (VicHealth, Health Costs of Violence).

In Victoria significant advances have been made to improve assistance to women and children directly affected by this violence. Communities and agencies across the state have continued their work of decades in providing accommodation, legal advice, information, material aid and social support. Public awareness campaigns have expanded and there is evidence that the great majority of Victorians – 98% of women and 93% of men – identify violence affecting women as a serious problem (VicHealth 2006).

In 2002 the Victorian Government developed its Women’s Safety Strategy, a five-year plan to guide coordinated action across government to reduce the level and fear of violence against women. In 2005 $35.1 million was allocated as part of the Government’s A Fairer Victoria initiative to implement a plan to reform service system responses to family violence.

Such efforts are critical to mitigate the effects of violence, such as depression and homelessness, and to prevent further harm and the escalation of abuse. While it is essential that this work continues there is also increasing awareness of the need for new efforts to prevent violence against women from occurring in the first place. A commitment to strengthening efforts in prevention is reflected in both the Women’s Safety Strategy and, more recently, in A Fairer Victoria, the Victorian Government’s social policy action plan.

While primary prevention of violence is an emerging area of practice worldwide, there is a growing consensus that it is possible to prevent violence against women before it occurs (WHO 2002). There is also mounting agreement that this problem is too prevalent and its consequences for individuals and communities too great to limit efforts to responding after violence has occurred (WHO 2002). Rather, there is a need to develop a spectrum of prevention responses. This involves building on existing work with affected individuals and families to include strategies to support primary prevention (WHO 2002).

The Women’s Safety Strategy as it currently stands has a set of principles to guide the government’s future activities to reduce the level, and fear, of violence against women. There are four key areas:

Protection and Justice
Options for Women
Violence Prevention and Education
Community Action and Coordination

Underpinning these key areas, three state-wide steering committees were established to work in partnership with community and non-government agencies on the implementation of the Women’s Safety Strategy. The committees were set up to provide advice on how to reduce violence against women using broader partnerships and collaborative working arrangements with other agencies across all sectors.

The Office of Women’s Policy is currently planning for the next iteration of the Women’s Safety Strategy.

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