‘What Happens Next?’: What’s Behind the Gender-Based Violence Crisis?

In part one of the final What Happens Next? series of the podcast’s ninth season, host Dr Susan Carland confronts one of Australia’s most pressing social crises – gender-based violence (GBV). As the podcast reveals, one woman is killed by a current or former partner every nine days in Australia, with 49 women allegedly killed in just the first six months of this year.

Can we end gender-based violence in one generation, as the Australian government ambitiously aims to do?

The episode brings together leading researchers and experts from Monash University and beyond to unpack the complex web of cultural, social and economic factors driving this national emergency.

The scale of the crisis

Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon, from Monash’s Faculty of Business and Economics, highlights the horrific reality – violence against women has reached the point that it’s been declared a national crisis by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. GBV manifests in multiple forms, from physical and sexual violence to coercive control, financial abuse and – increasingly – technology-facilitated abuse.

“Domestic, family and sexual violence is the number-one threat to the lives of women and children in Australia,” Fitz-Gibbon emphasises. “Yet we still see national security external threats are considered on a completely different level.” 

She points out that while Australia committed about $14 billion to submarines last year, Victoria's $4 billion commitment to addressing gender-based violence over eight years exceeds “every other state and territory and Commonwealth government combined”.

While GBV is a global issue, Australia faces unique challenges in how this violence manifests, and how services respond to it.

“… The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime shows us that a woman is killed approximately once every 11 minutes around the world, which is pretty frightening when we think about how long this podcast episode will go for, for example, and the women that may be killed around the world while we're talking.”

– Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon

Cultural roots and systemic inequalities

Fiona McCormack AM, former Victims of Crime Commissioner for Victoria, traces the deep cultural roots of gender-based violence back to patriarchal systems dating to Roman times.

She explains how violence creates cascading effects: “If you think about a woman who ... maybe she's experienced intimate partner abuse ... often that really affects women's mental health. That might mean that she starts drinking or using other kinds of drugs to manage the trauma ...

“In the long term, that will have impacts on her physical health – things like it could affect her ability to work, which might affect her stability in her workplace.”

McCormack identifies four key drivers consistently associated with high rates of violence:

• The condoning of violence through community attitudes
• Rigid gender stereotypes
• Men’s control of decision-making and limitations to women’s independence
• Hypermasculine attitudes supporting disrespect toward women
• Vulnerability and intersectionality.

There are stark disparities in how GBV affects different communities. McCormack says Indigenous women are 45 times more likely to be targeted as victims of GBV, and 10 times more likely to be murdered.

Read: New research reveals harrowing stories of murdered Indigenous women, and the failure of police to act

Professor Jane Fisher, a global health expert and a chief investigator in the soon-to-be-launched Australian Research Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, based at Monash, points out that economic stress can exacerbate these issues, particularly affecting migrant and refugee communities.

Fisher says there are complex barriers to seeking help. “First, there’s recognition that what is happening to me is wrong, is a form of violence, and that these behaviours are not what should normally be happening in a healthy, intimate partnership. Then there’s contemplating, ‘What does this mean? Does this mean that I have to contemplate leaving, separating, finding another domestic setting, separating our finances, managing custody of children?’”

Crisis in the classroom

The research by Professor Steven Roberts and Dr Stephanie Wescott, from Monash’s Faculty of Education, reveals an alarming trend in Australian schools – the rise of the “manosphere.”

This online ecosystem of anti-feminist content and so-called “manfluencers” has gained significant traction, particularly among young men. The researchers point to a perfect storm of factors, including technological advancement, backlash to the #MeToo movement, and increased screen time during COVID lockdowns.

Dr Roberts’ and Professor Wescott’s study of female teachers uncovered a disturbing shift in boys’ behaviour.

“There’s been a noticeable, discernible shift in boys’ attitudes and behaviours towards women and girls in the last couple of years,” Dr Wescott says. “Women noticed that boys, the way they were speaking to them, the way they were treating them was very different, was aggressive, misogynist, sexist.”

Read: Victorian students will get ‘anti-Tate’ lessons, but much more is needed to tackle gendered violence in schools

The impact on teachers has been severe. Two of the teachers interviewed in the study left their jobs due to boys’ behaviour. Others report facing an impossible situation. 

“If you become stricter and firmer, you become the bitch that they think you are, but then if you ignore it then you're allowing a culture of disrespect and misogyny to flourish in your classroom,” says Dr Wescott.

While the problem affects a minority of students – “three or four kids out of a class of 20 to 25”, according to Professor Roberts – the impact extends beyond direct participants. These incidents can take the better part of an hour to manage, and affect all students’ learning environment while reinforcing harmful gender dynamics.

The addiction connection

Associate Professor Charles Livingstone, from Monash’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, brings attention to a lesser-discussed driver of gender-based violence – addiction, particularly gambling.

Australia has the world’s highest gambling expenditure per capita – twice that of the next-highest country – creating a “devil's brew” of potential harm. The financial stress, erosion of trust and shame associated with gambling addiction often manifest in violent behaviour.

Read: Gambling: A developing global disaster for public health

“The more research we've done and the more we’ve talked to people who’ve experienced this situation, I think the more we’ve realised that the links are actually quite clear and quite obvious,” Associate Professor Livingstone says.

Moving forward

The message is clear – addressing GBV requires a multi-faceted approach that tackles both its immediate manifestations and its deep-seated cultural roots. Only through sustained effort and systemic change can we hope to create a safer, more equitable future for all Australians.

As Professor Fitz-Gibbon notes, meaningful change requires matching commitment with action: “If we have governments that proclaim to be committed to ending gender-based violence in one generation ... then we need to be fully funded. We need to fund this commensurate with the prevalence across the Australian community.”

Find help

For more information or assistance with the issues discussed in today’s episode, here are the Australian resources recommended by our experts:

Gender-based violence help:

• For anyone in immediate danger, call 000 for police and ambulance
• 1800RESPECT or 1800respect.org.au – confidential national counselling and support service for people who have experienced, or are at risk of experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence, their family and friends, and frontline workers
• 1800FULLSTOP (1800 385 578) – national violence and abuse trauma counselling and recovery service
• WhiteRibbon.org.au
• Rainbow Sexual, Domestic and Family Violence Helpline – 1800 497 212
• 13YARN (13 92 76) – a national crisis support line for mob
• Men’s Referral Service (1300 766 491) – a service for men who use family violence
• Mensline Australia (1300 789 978) – telephone and online support for men in Australia.

Gambling help:

• 1800 858 858 or gamblinghelponline.org.au

Information about the crisis:

• Ourwatch.org.au – quick facts about violence against women
• RespectVictoria.vic.gov.au – research and resources

Don’t miss a moment of season nine – subscribe now on your favourite podcast app.

Already a subscriber? You can help other listeners find the show by giving What Happens Next? a rating and review.

Listen to more What Happens Next? podcast episodes