Never before has collaboration been more important within the community sector and all its moving parts to set the tone, and to lead the cultural change that is required to challenge normative beliefs that underpin the gendered inequality which feeds all forms of gendered violence against women throughout our communities. Not only are the streets unsafe, but our homes and workplaces are also unsafe. So how can we each step into our own personal power and challenge this? How can communities turn this around – what will it take?

Trauma informed, client centred, all of people initiatives, recognising a holistic response is needed. The provision of legal services that recognise economic, social, cultural and political rights and their intersection with the law is critical. The role of specialist women’s services to provide an effective chance, an opportunity for women to challenge gendered violence is important in the current landscape. The 2025 National Legal Partnership Agreement is a pivotal piece of work. It must value the role of specialist legal services to deliver the support and services women need in an integrated way.

Safety must always come first.

Specialist women’s services, like WLST, will continue to be needed to address the structural inequality that lies at the heart of violence against women. This is an approach supported by the international framework in place globally to challenge the inequality. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the special measures regime which allows in effect for positive discrimination until we obtain equality must sit at the centre of the policy debate and decision making.

There is still much to be done in Australia and Tasmania. 1 in 3 women are not safe at work, 1 in 4 women have an experience of family violence in their homes and sexual offences remain underreported across communities.

While both ageism and sexism are recognized forms of discrimination, the specific experiences of older women have often been overlooked and ignored, perpetuating a culture of silence and invisibility. The gendered nature of the violence that older women experience is lost when we categorise it as ‘elder abuse’. It erases older women from both age and gender-based discourses and movements.
Framing violence against older women as ‘elder abuse’ perpetuates the idea that elder abuse is a problem that affects both men and women equally. It fails to recognise the specific experiences and vulnerabilities of older women and this then results in inadequate prevention and intervention efforts specifically targeted for older women.
We know that older women are subjected to abuse in residential aged care facilities, by family members or caregivers, and out on the streets. However, because of their age and gender, their experiences are often dismissed or ignored. There are around 50 sexual assaults taking place in residential aged care facilities every week in Australia, but it has not generated the outrage one would expect if 50 sexual assaults were to take place in childcare facilities every week.
If we do not specifically include older women in our efforts to end violence against women in a generation, we will be failing in our responsibility because they will continue to be left behind.