Violence against women policies in Victoria, Australia

Violence against women is now well-established policy in Victoria, following decades of community-based public health and feminist efforts for violence to be viewed by government as a serious social problem affecting women's health and wellbeing. On a national and international scale, violence against women is central to current discussions about development, gender equality, and population health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls for holistic, health-based programmes to end violence against women, drawing on social-ecological models that focus on nested levels of context: the individual, interpersonal, community (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Indeed, the adaption of the ecological model of health represents a significant shift in violence against women policy discourse. Closer to home, for example, the Victorian Right to Respect policy (2009) set out a plan to prevent violence against women, incorporating a new public health approach that pays attention to primary-level prevention activities, that is, strategies to stop violence before it occurs. Such shifts highlight the work of feminist activists and the women's movement that saw violence and health as interconnected issues, and whose determination, energy, and advocacy for women has led to systemic changes in the treatment of violence against women in criminal justice systems and political arenas.