what i learnt this week :: WEEK 37

Sep 11, 2015

#WhatILearntThisWeek
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Sometimes I have to stop watching the news, as it’s just too depressing.

Australia has been slow to catch up to our American cousins of gun crime and it was only a few years ago that a shooting crime was shocking and out of the ordinary. Every day there is a shooting or another woman killed at the hand of family violence. Why is the violence increasing? What are we doing wrong?

I’m not going to pretend to have the answer. I grew up on a home dominated by woman and my mother was always a strong and independent woman so I haven’t seen family violence first hand. However, as a woman living in this world I have been confronted with and adjacent to violence. It’s horrible to feel as though you are more at risk because of your gender.

This week in particular there has been a disproportionate number of violent attacks on women. There are varying statistics as to how may women have died in Australia so far this year but according to Lisa Wilkinson on the Today Show this morning, 62 women and children have lost their lives due to family violence. Where do we start? Who is responsible? We can’t rely on our government to take the issue seriously as they don’t seem to understand women at all.

Perhaps the only forward thinking, women-friendly decision our government has made this year was choosing Rosie Batty as Australian of the Year. However at the same time the Abbott Government cut funding to women’s support services. Dumbfounding.

I don’t have any answers this week – just lots of questions and a lot of sadness. Real men don’t hit women… in fact they don’t hit anyone. There really is no end to violence 🙁

You can get more information about Rosie Batty’s foundation Never Alone by visiting their website.

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