Submission to National Summit on Women's Safety

We were pleased to make a submission to the Department of Social Services' September 2021 National Summit on Women's Safety.

We pointed to our Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces 2019 for a detailed examination of the intersections between objectified portrayals of women, pornography and sexual harassment, and to our Submission to the 2020 Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Inquiry.

We responded to the National Summit on Women's Safety discussion issues including:

• Improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

• Technology and abuse – challenges and opportunities

• Migrant and refugee experiences of family, domestic and sexual violence

• Supporting women and children with disability

We made additional recommendations including:

• Increased Centrelink payments for women and access to affordable housing for women and their children

• Urgent efforts to address abuse of elderly women

• A review of sentencing, noting the high number of perpetrators who offend due to early release or breach of parole

• Nordic/Equality model legislative approach to prostitution

• Retention of the 2016-19 National Action Plan Reduce Violence against Women and their Children recognition of increasing evidence showing a correlation between exposure to online pornography and the sexual objectification of women and girls, the development of rape cultures and the proliferation of sexual assault

Click the image below to read our full submission.

Read our other submissions here.