National Survey Finds ‘Extremely Concerning’ Community Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence

Two in five Australians wrongly believe domestic violence is equally perpetrated by men and women, a survey released by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety has revealed. Around 19,000 respondents aged 16 or over participated in the 2021 National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women Survey, which is conducted every four years by the ANROWS. The data, which was released on Wednesday, showed community understanding of gender inequality and violence against women had gradually improved between 2017 and 2021. But it also found many Australians hold extremely troubling and, frankly, disturbing attitudes about domestic violence, including that survivors can be responsible for the violence they experience at the hands of men, and that sometimes, violence against women is justified.

Almost 20 per cent of respondents believed that “sometimes a woman can make a man so angry that he hits her when he didn’t mean to” and 16 per cent thought that domestic violence “can be excused if it is a result of people getting so angry they temporarily lose control”.