November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the start of 16 Days of Activism, a global campaign. Julie Mecham from the Wagga Women’s Health Centre is reflecting on what is happening locally, and more broadly, to help women.
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Julie, where are we, right now, in Wagga?
There is some good news in Wagga this week, with the reopening of Micah Hub by St Vincent de Paul.
It is a staggering amount of money that it’s costing the community with issues relating to domestic violence. It is estimated to cost Australia about $22 billion a year.
It’s estimated that about 98 or 99 per cent of women who experience domestic violence also experience financial abuse, so every little bit that somewhere like Micah Hub can do to help improve the outcomes for women across our community is great. I understand there will be things like case management, showering options and support. It’s so important.
Sometimes women have to decide where they are going to place their priorities. They have to decide: Is it paying rent? Is it buying food? How are they going to manage those difficulties?
Micah Hub is vital in our community and we wish that service the very best. It’s been sadly missed and we are very glad to have it back.
Having a safe place to shower is something we identified a couple of years ago as particularly important to women.
Are we still not realising the extent of the problems for many people in our community?
Micah Hub, along with so many other services in the area, fill an important niche and unless you’re in it, you just don’t see.
And that’s not a criticism. People are just getting on with their lives and trying to do their best for themselves and their families, but support of that Micah Hub service, in any way, shape or form, would be really important.
I think making a change around domestic violence is about making a change to gender inequality.
Do we understand homelessness in Wagga, and how it affects different people?
You don’t tend to see it unless you’re driving around early in the morning, and then you start to see it.
We recognise, of course, that homelessness can be a really hidden problem. That can be couch surfing, it might be staying at a friend’s place or staying with relatives because you’ve got nowhere else to go.
It’s certainly a major issue.
In particular again, for women with domestic violence, seeking safety is so important, so places like the refuge, Sisters’ Housing, is a vital service for this area.
There are growing statistics that homelessness is impacting older women. That may be because of the loss of a partner, that may be financial abuse from children or grandchildren, that could be mental health issues, or that home feels very unsafe.
Certainly, there has been some frightening information that’s come out: Even for women who have been in business and been successful business people, there is still that risk for some if the business goes bad or some other event takes place and it can spiral out of control very, very quickly.
What can we do to raise awareness of violence against women?
I think making a change around domestic violence is about making a change to gender inequality.
So wherever that’s been fought, that starts to shift society’s opinions.
It used to be that you could smoke in a doctor’s surgery, but we learned more and we understood more about the risks associated with that, so society changed.
And we can continue to do that. We can make a change by reducing the gender pay gap, by ensuring women are not portrayed as objects of male desire, that they are human beings and deserve all of the rights that every human being does.
Child marriage, sexual assault .. all of those things make women look like they are ‘less than’.
Even sexist jokes allow that notion that women are objects or not worthy of being treated with respect.
We have to challenge it at every point.
We still don’t always get that do we, that basic inequality?
No. It’s like ‘it’s a woman’s responsibility to keep herself safe’. I still go into a car park at night by myself and I’m hyper vigilant about what’s around me, got my keys in my hand, I look in the back seat, I look what’s around, I’m listening out for noises to try to keep myself safe.
Thankfully, I’ve never had to actually fight off someone, but it’s feeling that responsibility, instead of saying as a community that ‘we won’t tolerate violence in our community across the board, that’s it’.
But of course, that has to be making sure our women and girls are safe to move around society without being blamed for what she wore, where she went, how much she drank, previous sex partners.
Good blokes have got to step here, don’t they?
And good blokes do, and we see that. What’s important to say is that there are way more good men than bad men. Way, way, way more. One in three women will experience domestic violence in their life. That doesn’t mean one in three men are perpetrators of violence.
It’s about not turning a blind eye, calling a mate out, not perpetuating those jokes when you go to the pub, and there are so many men that are doing this across our community. There are some fantastic leaders. We have been so moved over the last few years about how many leaders come and recognise how many women have been killed and how many communities that have been impacted – the parents, the grandparents, the children who have lost that person.