Almost half of Australians incorrectly believe women and men equally commit domestic violence, according to a major survey which shows "extremely troubling" community attitudes towards violence against women.
Despite gradual improvements in community understanding of gender inequality and sexual violence between 2017 and 2021, the survey revealed attitudes rejecting domestic violence have stalled.
Researchers and advocates have warned that further effort is necessary to address harmful myths and misconceptions about violence and victims and tackle "backlash" and resistance to gender equality.
Around 20,000 people aged over 16 years were involved in the latest National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women Survey (NCAS) which has been conducted by the Australian National Research Organisation on Women Safety (ANROWS) every four years since 2009.
More than one-third of respondents believed that women going through custody battles make up or exaggerate claims of domestic violence, while a similar number believed it is common for sexual assault accusations to be used as a way of getting back at men.
The survey showed no improvement in attitudes that minimise violence against women, with one-fifth of participants agreeing that "a lot of what is called domestic violence is really just a normal reaction to day-to-day stress and frustration".
In addition, 18 per cent agreed that "sometimes a woman can make a man so angry that he hits her when he didn't mean to" and 15 per cent agreed that domestic violence "can be excused if it is a result of people getting so angry they temporarily lose control".
Misconceptions about violence persist
ANROWS CEO Padma Raman said misconceptions about where violence occurs and who is responsible are amongst the most disturbing findings.
Community understanding about the gendered nature of domestic violence has gone backwards, with 41 per cent of people wrongly believing both men and women are equally likely to be perpetrators.
"The findings are problematic because we know that domestic and family violence is perpetrated, by and large, by men against women," Ms Raman said.
"While we're seeing increased efforts, in terms of campaigns in terms of government action, we're still not seeing it recognised for the horrific nature of it, the extent and prevalence of it, and the terror that women live in."
While more than 90 per cent of respondents agreed that violence against women is a national problem, far fewer — only 47 per cent — believed it was a problem within their own suburb or town.
"This finding suggests a misconception that violence tends to occur generally outside one's own networks, rather than everywhere, which may impede recognition that violence is a community-wide social problem requiring action at all levels of society," the report said.
Mistrusting reporting and minimising violence
The report found that while most Australians rejected attitudes that condone violence, some held views that mistrust women, objectify them, disregard consent, minimise violence and victim blame.
One in five respondents believed that women who said they were raped "had led the man on and then had regrets" and an equal number said female victims who do not leave an abusive partner are partly responsible for the abuse continuing.
Researchers have called for a concerted effort to challenge "deep-seated" mistrusting attitudes that women who report violence have malicious agendas and ulterior motives.
More than one in five agreed that men who were sexually aroused "may not even release that a woman doesn't want to have sex" while a similar number said women who send naked pictures to their partner are partly responsible if he shares it without her permission.
Meanwhile, a "sizeable minority" of participants were found to hold views that denied experiences of gender inequality, sought to limit women's autonomy in relationships, undermined women's leadership in public life and normalised sexism.
Amongst those surveyed, 41 per cent agreed with the statement that "many women mistakenly interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist" while around a third believed that women "exaggerate the unequal treatment of women in Australia" and that women "don't fully appreciate all that men do for them".
Results 'disheartening but not surprising'
Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon said the results showed that some Australians harboured "extremely concerning" views despite decades of advocacy and community education campaigns.
"This shows us the breadth and the depth of the challenge," she said.
"If we are going to tackle these underlying gendered attitudes towards violence against women, we are going to need significant investment and it will take time, so we can't get too frustrated."
Professor Fitz-Gibbon said the findings pointed towards where government should focus attention.
"We're seeing globally that threats to women's rights are emerging in many different countries and different settings," she said.
"This survey provides a really stark reminder that Australia is not immune from this global movement backwards in the significant backlash against women.
"We must work very hard to ensure that the attitudes and the beliefs that Australians hold, do not slip backwards, and that those problematic beliefs are challenged."
Survivor-advocate Lula Dembele said the findings were "disheartening but not surprising".
"The people who are using violence against their family, against colleagues, against their partners, their children, are people you already know, like and love," she said.
"We have to start addressing that and stop resisting that.
"Until we all sit with the discomfort of that, we're not going to make progress."
Progress needed to meet goal
The survey was established as a key means of monitoring the progress of government policies and initiatives aimed at reducing violence against women under the National Plan which was in place for over a decade and ended last year.
Since then, the government has pledged to "end violence against women and children in one generation".
The study said "considerable progress" was needed to meet that target and Ms Dembele argued that should involve a greater focus on perpetrators.
"The only way we will achieve the ambition of ending violence against women and children in one generation is if we focus on perpetration, reducing perpetration and on perpetrator accountability," she said.
"There are solutions out there, the government needs to have the courage to fund where they need to do things differently and address perpetration directly."
Minister for Women Katy Gallagher said the findings showed that too many people held attitudes that entrenched inequality and discrimination.
"This data reminds us why we must maintain a strong focus on progress," she said.
"There is still a long way to go before all women in Australia are equal.
"There remain attitudes amongst Australians that undermine women's leadership, reinforce rigid gender roles, including in relationships, limit women's personal autonomy, normalise sexism and deny that gender inequality is a problem."
She described some of the report's findings as "deeply concerning" and said attitudes expressed by participants "continue to hold women back".
"This research also once again shows that attitudes towards gender inequality were the strongest significant predictor of attitudes towards violence against women," she said.
"This demonstrates that to address violence against women we must also tackle gender inequality, and the attitudes and behaviours that drive it."
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth said the study would help guide future action.
"Research like this helps us identify where there may be gaps in our understanding and where we need to focus our efforts on as a society when it comes to the important issues of family, domestic and sexual violence."
