See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Violence

by Jess Hill

The truth is, many women struggle to feel compassion for men’s vulnerability.

One thing is clear: the chaotic family violence in Indigenous communities today – supercharged by alcohol### and substance abuse – has no background in traditional culture.

‘In many cases our women considered white women to be worse than men in their treatment of Aboriginal women,’ writes historian and activist Jackie Huggins, ‘particularly in the domestic service field.’50

As we read in Chapter 5, Nordic countries – world leaders on gender equality – still have shocking rates of domestic abuse. In Iceland – ‘the best place to be a woman’14 – domestic abuse seems to be growing, according to Icelandic feminist and anthropology professor Sigríður Dúna Kristmundsdóttir. ‘Maybe [it’s] the anxiety that men are feeling, which can increase violence in the home.’

This tells us is that if we succeed in improving gender equality, we may actually see domestic abuse get worse in the short term. This means it’s urgent that the secondary and tertiary prevention parts of the National Plan are evidence-based, coordinated and securely funded.