Choose three empowering women’s health and women’s issues titles from our In the National Interest series.
Our National Shame: Violence against women is not a private issue that needs bespoke, case-by-case solutions. It is a community-wide problem that, to be properly addressed, requires a dramatic shift in how we understand and respond to men’s violence, and most importantly, the tackling of gender inequality in this country.
System Failure: The legal system’s responses to rape were designed without survivors in mind, and they do not address, in any way, the questions that survivors ask or the needs they express. Simply put, on the systemic response to rape, we are having the wrong conversation.
Power & Consent: Sexual harassment is rarely a ‘one off’. Perpetrators continue their harassment because they are not called to account for their actions. Silence and complicity allow recidivists to go unpunished and normalise the phenomenon of ‘getting away with it’. Perpetrators must be taught what consent means.
Rape Culture: We are now hearing calls from young women survivors such as 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame to acknowledge the reality of abuse and reform our approach to social justice and support. Young women in schools are speaking out about the impact on their development and mental health. We might have expected our political leaders to respond to this outpouring, but no. This impasse represents the workings of a ‘rape culture’ where the abuse of women is accepted as commonplace
Respect: When did respect disappear? When did we agree to abandon our respect for expertise, for other people’s experience and history, for the boundaries between the personal and the public, for facts as well as feelings? In a civil society, respect is a fundamental principle.
Enough is Enough: Women wielding power in Parliament House, women fighting for equality and an end to discrimination across our country, have made their mark and they have caused change. But the underlying problem of men’s attitudes towards women, of men believing it is their right to assault or harass women, remains. For this to change, men will have to give up some of the harmful ways in which they use power—in the parliament and in our community.
Towards Reproductive Justice: In June 2022, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision that overturned Roe v Wade, declaring that the American Constitution did not protect the right to abortion. Several US states immediately banned abortion, while others were quick to enact restrictive regulation. This decision sent shockwaves around the world, including in Australia. It gave Australians reason to pause and consider the extent to which reproductive rights are protected here, and the accessibility of reproductive health care in this country.
