Violence against women can take many forms. Some examples of what this violence can look like include:
- A man tracking his partner on her mobile phone or limiting access to credit cards
- A partner using a woman’s immigration status to control her
- A colleague making sexual comments at work
- Threatening to withhold medication or health care in order to control a woman
- A stranger sending unwanted sexual images on social media
- A partner or family member threatening to ‘out’ or ’shame’ a person because of their gender identity, sexual orientation or HIV status.
Violence against women can occur in the home, at work, online or in public. It can happen within the family – like intimate partner violence – or outside it, like street harassment.
1 in 4
women have experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15. [2]
1 in 4
women have been physically assaulted by a man since the age of 15. [3]
1 in 5
women have been sexually assaulted by a man since the age of 15. [4]
12%
of women were sexually harassed by a man in the last 12 months. [5]
1 in 3
More than 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence by a man since the age of 15. [6]
3 in 5
An estimated 3 in 5 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have been physically or sexually assaulted by a partner. This violence is perpetrated by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal men. [7]
1 in 3
More than a third of women with disabilities have experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15. [8]
1 in 3
surveyed migrant and refugee women have experienced family violence. [9]
Statistics sources
- Homicide in Australia 2019-20. National Homicide Monitoring Program (2022).
- Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey 2021-22.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey 2021-22.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey 2021-22.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey 2021-22.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey 2021-22.
- Webster, K. (2016) “A preventable burden: Measuring and addressing the prevalence and health impacts of intimate partner violence in Australian women: Key findings and future directions”.
- Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health (2021) “Nature and extent of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation against people with disability in Australia”.
- Segrave, Marie; Wickes, Rebecca; Keel, Chloe (2021) “Migrant and refugee women in Australia: The safety and security study” Monash University.
The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women and girls, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. Violence against women and girls encompasses, but is not limited to, physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family or within the general community and perpetrated or condoned by the State.”