As a community we need to keep taking about the issue of men's violence against women and children ...
VicHealth will today launch the third National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey.
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The survey is undertaken every four years and this year gauged the attitudes of 17,500 Australians aged over 16.
They were surveyed in an effort to measure the attitudes and beliefs of Australians in relation to sexual assault, violence (in all of its forms), sexism and gender equality.
The survey was developed by VicHealth in partnership with The University of Melbourne, the Social Research Centre and violence against women experts across Australia, with support from the Australian Government Department of Social Services as part of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010 to 2022.
The goal was to gain a better understanding to assist with the development of programs and interventions that build cultures of non‐violence and which place value on equal and respectful relationships between men and women.
In 2009, the survey found most people in the community have a broad understanding of domestic and sexual violence and its impacts, and do not condone it.
But despite improvements, the survey found attitudes that condone, justify or excuse violence against women persist.
The report outlined challenges, including:
• Fewer people in 2009 believed slapping and pushing a partner to cause harm or fear was a ‘very serious’ form of violence than in 1995 (from 64 per cent in 1995 to 53 per cent in 2009).
• 22 per cent of people believed domestic violence was perpetrated equally by men and women compared with nine per cent in 1995.
• 34 per cent believed ‘rape resulted from men being unable to control their need for sex’.
• One in four people (26 per cent) disagreed 'women rarely made false claims of being raped’.
• 13 per cent of people still agreed that women ‘often say no when they mean yes’ and roughly one in six (16 per cent) agreed that a woman ‘is partly responsible if she is raped when drunk or drug‐affected’.
• One in five people (22 per cent) believed domestic violence could be excused if later the perpetrator regretted what they had done.
• Eight in 10 people in the general community said it was hard to understand why women stayed in violent relationships and more than half believed a woman could leave a violent relationship if she really wanted to.
Despite some great work being done by violence prevention services, today's report is unlikely to show significant changes in some of these areas.
That's why as a community we need to keep taking about the issue of men's violence against women and children; breaking down the myths and trying to understand.