AS OF this week, the Destroy the Joint’s Counting Dead Women project – which keeps track of females who died violently in Australia – stands at 69 for the year to date.
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Given we’re less than a month from the year’s end, one would hope the toll will be down on the 2015 figure of 80.
It’s a heartbreaking figure and each death represented not only a life lost, but families and friends left shattered by the death of a loved one.
We can only hope that it’s a figure that continues to drop as the message that violence of any kind is unacceptable.
And while here in Australia, the heartbreak of domestic violence is increasingly being discussed and denounced, we need to remember that there are a great many countries in the world where the lot of women remains truly appalling and little progress would appear to be made in addressing the issue.
Natasha Stott Despoja, the outgoing ambassador for women and girls and a former senator for the now-defunct Australian Democrats, says there are some sights has encountered during her term that she will never wipe from her memory.
Ms Stott Despoja told Fairfax Media, these included the women she met in some clinics in Papua New Guinea, who came in just having had their hands or feet severed, or the children she came across – in Bhutan, Madagascar and elsewhere – who had been trafficked for sex.
"Everywhere I went I saw the effects of violence (against women and girls), the shame and the stigma, the aftermath both physical and emotional," she said.
"There are people I have met and things I've seen in the last few years that have shaken me. I have seen the best and worst of humanity in this job, occasionally it just saps your energy. But then I spend time with women and men advocating for gender equality and changing lives all over the world, and every day I've been inspired (by them)."
As Fairfax reported, Ms Stott Despoja will step down in January after a three-year stint in the ambassador's role, a job that has taken her on 45 overseas trips, from the Turkish refugee camps on the Syrian border, to remote parts of the Pacific, and to massive garment factories in Cambodia.
As you might imagine, Ms Stott Despoja has also been championing the cause of women politicians, particularly in developing nations where the number of female parliamentarians often remains low.
She made a farewell address at the Lowy Institute last week and it was yet another reminder that as a world population, we still have a long way to go.
Across the globe not only women, but children and men continue to die not only violently, but also because of disease, famine and malnutrition.
At this time of year, we often take a moment out from the chaos of Christmas shopping and family get-togethers to think of those who are facing hardships, so Ms Stott Despoja’s farewell address was timely.
Whether it’s the elimination of family violence in Australia or of a preventable disease in a developing nation, we still have a way to go as we strive for that peace on Earth and goodwill to all men.
But as we celebrate, we can acknowledge that work has been – and will continue to be – done to achieve this glorious goal.