Gender-based violence in Australia is preventable. However, it is a national problem, and the drivers are deep in our culture and society.
Gender-based violence includes violence against women and young women as well as violence against adult women. It includes a wide range of behaviours includes dating violence, physical and sexual violence, image-based abuse and sexual harassment. Gender-based violence is also inclusive of and extends to violence experienced by the lesbian, bisexual, gay, trans, queer and intersex people.
Violence against women is the most common form of gender-based violence in Australia and is typically perpetrated by a current intimate or former partner. The evidence shows that violence against women is much more likely to occur when power, opportunities and resources are not shared equally between men and women in society and when women are not valued and respected as much as men.