Every Month I want to draw your attention to current affairs of homelessness, violence against women and other women’s issues contributing to the growing homelessness rate amongst Gen X Women.
Catherine House Women’s Homelessness.
As Catherine House, specifically supports women experiencing homelessness, they have some key insights into what is driving the continually growing number of women experiencing it, one of which being the constant cost of living increases and the ever-increasing rates of family violence and abuse against women.
With 13 interest rate rises in the 15 months to December 2023, it brought interest rates to their highest level since 2011. Couple that with the lack of affordable housing and landlords putting rent up to cover mortgages and other property cost increases, it is little wonder that South Australia has become the country’s second least affordable state for housing. Even though we have a newly minted unaffordable status in Adelaide, we continue to have the lowest rental availability in the country at 0.3%.
As you can imagine all these factors have caused an extreme increase in the services that Catherine House provides. Catherine House knows firsthand that women make up the majority of “newly homeless” across Australia, and women between the ages of 35-45 and girls under the age of 18 represent the fasting cohort of all people experiencing homelessness today.
On the 5th of February the Guardian published a terrifying article about the ‘deaths of despair’ amongst Australia’s homeless, highlighting that homeless people die on average 30 years younger than the average Australian. Researchers reviewed the average age of death among the 627 cases and what they found was that that homeless men died on average at the age of 45.2 and women at the age of 40.1 years old. These deaths can be directly attributed to the trauma and desperation of homelessness and compounded by the vast waits for emergency and public housing. This story really dives home the importance of the work of Catherine House.
To put into perspective what Catherine House does on a daily, weekly, yearly, and ongoing basis to support women experiencing homelessness here are some markers from 2023:
- 33,577 client case sessions entered into their database.
- 54 women provided with safe and secure accommodation at any given time.
- 381 clients worked with across all programs and services.
- 498 enquiries were taken by their Intake Service Worker.
- 2,318 attendances were recorded at the Women’s Centre.
- 31,149 meals to their clients across all our programs
The work Catherine house does is so incredibly important, and while many women are reaching out at a time of crisis, Catherine House remains a place of hope for so many and this is demonstrated by the outcomes of the women who exit their support:
- 86% reported an improvement in their living skills.
- 84% reported improved interpersonal skills and connections.
- 78% reported improved management of mental health.
- 86% reported improved management of physical health.
- 86% reported improved sense of ability to achieve.
There are many ways that you can get involved and support the important work of Catherine House in the community. You can fundraise, collect items on their Wishlist, join the Regular Giving Program, volunteer your time and much more! Check out how to get involved here
Violence Against Women.
As I write this newsletter, I am saddened to share that as of February 29th, 10 women have lost their lives as a result of gender-based violence. Numbers from Destroy the Joint
In case you missed it, I strongly encourage you to read the article from Lucy Clark ‘It’s true, Kelly Wilkinson was cop shopping. She was looking for a Queensland cop who cared’ from the Guardian, see here. When is it going to end??? How many more women have been accused of “cop shopping” to try and get the protection that they desperately need and more importantly deserve? How many more women could have been helped? This story is shocking and rocked me to my core when it happened, but it is rocking me again. I am disgusted to think that this beautiful young woman could have been saved, had the police she approached not dismissed her. As Lucy Clark askes in the article ‘How often do we hear of women desperately trying to get help, of being known to the system as victims of violent abuse, of then turning up as the next statistic? All too often.’
Of course, I am keeping my eye on the disappearance of Samantha Murphy, the mother of 3 from Ballarat, as this case approaches one month there are many rumours flying around, but not yet any solid evidence or break throughs. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Samantha, and I hope she is soon located and safely reunited with them.
As I explained in the first Newsletter, it is known as many things; domestic violence, family violence, intimate partner violence, coercive control, but whatever you call it, it is violent and unnecessary and what happened to Kelly Wilkinson could have been avoided. We need to stop this behaviour now, with all generations, but especially the one right behind us.
Last year, all states and territories signed on to a national plan to end violence against women and children within “one generation”, which includes the target of reducing the number of women killed by 25 per cent each year and also in 2023 the government saw the sense in tracking and publicly releasing quarterly information on intimate partner homicides, which up until now has only been done by advocates and researchers, such as Destroy The Joint, who through their Counting Dead campaign has been able to raise awareness in a significant way about the hard facts of domestic violence.
As a woman you have the right to be free from men’s violence, and we all have a responsibility to make this happen. A keyway to help create a change is to understand what gender-based violence actually is. It is any act that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.
On the 7th of February at the official launch of Australia’s 2024 International Women’s Day the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia said that “Men have to be prepared to take responsibility for our actions and our attitudes. To educate our sons, to talk to our mates, to drive real change in the culture of our sporting clubs, our faith and community groups and our workplaces, including this workplace right here.” This statement is really important, because until we break down the patriarchal attitudes that minimise violence towards women, for example the belief that even as recently as last year, 23% of respondents to VIC Health’s, Australians’ attitudes to violence against women, thought that most of what is described as domestic violence is a “normal reaction to day-to-day stress and frustration”, is not only concerning, but infuriating, as there continues to be a massive power imbalance which excuses disrespect and shifts blame on victim-survivors.
At the same event Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong said, “The aspirations we champion in our region – peace, stability, and prosperity – can only be achieved if we continue to see progress on gender equality. When women and girls are empowered, and barriers to participation are removed, economies grow faster.” While I agree 100% with Penny, it is also a fact that Australian women are among the most highly educated in the world. Girls are more likely than boys to complete Year 12 education, and women aged 25 to 44 are far more likely than men to have tertiary qualifications. However, this has not translated into better economic outcomes for women – Australia’s overall gender pay gap remains at 13.3 per cent (or $253.50 per week), and graduate gender pay gaps favour men in most fields of study. This statistic means that many victim-survivors lack the finances to leave violent homes and end up being forced to stay in the violent home or return to a violent partner or have no choice but to become homeless because they could not find affordable and secure housing after leaving the violence.
In terms of pay gaps if you haven’t already, make sure you catch up on the first set of Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) private sector employer gender pay gaps reports. These were published on 27th February 2024 and cover 1st April 2022 – 31st March 2023. I am really interested to see which companies are genuinely supporting women, and which are simply giving lip service. This report is as a result of amendments to the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 passed by Federal Parliament in March 2023. The reports are a requirement for private sector employers with a workforce of 100 or more employees. You can learn more here and you can also have a look at some summary figures on my Instagram post here
Remember ‘Gendered Violence’ IS happening in every street, every suburb, every place in Australia. Yes, I know that is confronting, but what is more confronting is that family violence and/or intimate partner violence is the leading cause of serious injury, disability, and death for women in Australia. On average, one woman a week is killed by her intimate male partner.
Quite frankly Mr. Albanese, it is more than men being prepared to take responsibility for their actions and attitudes, it is going to need a cataclysmic shift to STOP THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN if the people employed to protect us won’t take us seriously……If we don’t get paid the same for the same work….if we are dismissed about our health…..if house work or groceries are women’s work…..if parental leave is gendered……the list goes on, and on, and on…….but we will keep SHOUTING and making ourselves heard.
If you, a child, or another person is in immediate danger, call 000.For sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service call 1800 RESPECT 1800 737 732 for 24/7 phone and online services.
