Earlier this month the charity White Ribbon Australia, which was dedicated to ending violence against women by promoting “gender equity, healthy relationships and a new vision of masculinity”, shut down after 12 years. In its last four years it had spent nearly $20 million promoting awareness campaigns and corporate accreditation programs aimed at changing men’s attitudes and behaviours, only to be criticised for its profligacy and poor management.
Its demise comes on the heels of sobering evidence that our efforts to curb violence are failing. In Victoria, according to the Crime Statistics Agency 82,652 “family incidents” were reported to police in the state in 2018-19, a per capita increase of 6.4 per cent since 2015. The NSW Government, meanwhile, has revealed that family violence killings doubled in the year to March, reaching 38. Fifteen of the victims were women, a rise of 36 per cent, but 14 men were killed, up nearly 300 per cent, and children’s deaths increased seven-fold.
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