Indigenous Women and Children
Indigenous women are 45 times more likely to experience family violence and 10 times more likely to die as a result than the non Indigenous population. Indigenous communities have complex family and kinship networks and, while leaving family life is difficult and confusing for all women, the experience of Indigenous women is even more so. The Indigenous community’s understanding of family violence includes: ‘one on one fighting, abuse involving the Indigenous community workers, self harm, injury and suicide… and is also inclusive of elder abuse and victims of family violence can include parents, uncles, aunties, (step) children, (step) siblings, cousins, grandparents, in laws and distant relatives.’
The Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Taskforce attributes the high incidence and prevalence of family violence among Indigenous people to a number of factors including:
The experience of Indigenous women and children occurs in the context of the colonisation, dispossession and oppression of Indigenous Australians. This is demonstrated by the significant over-representation of Indigenous people in institutions and by figures regarding health and mortality of the Indigenous community. The Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Inquiry, conducted in 1987, found that Indigenous people die in custody at an unacceptable rate relevant to their proportion of the whole population and are grossly over-represented in prison populations. Since the Inquiry, the incarceration rate of Indigenous women has increased by 256%. Victoria has the highest number of Indigenous children coming to the attention of child protection in Australia. This is of particular significance given that Victoria has one of the lowest Indigenous populations.
The trauma of living with family violence is but one of the multiple traumas frequently experienced by Indigenous children. These multiple traumas include the witnessing of community violence, death of loved ones, dislocation from home and community, poor health and extreme poverty. Indigenous leader Lowitija O’Donoghue has said that:
Many children are growing up in communities where violence has become normal and an ordinary part of life and this has resulted in a generation of young Indigenous people who are engaging in high risk and illegal behaviours, misusing alcohol and other drugs, trying to function in spite of profound emotional and physical damage, trying to form loving relationships, even though they are confused about what love is and, most terrifying of all, harming themselves and killing themselves at unprecedented rates.
There is considerable diversity in Indigenous cultural practice and among communities which makes it impossible to generalise about the nature of violence or Indigenous women and children’s experience of it. The interconnected nature of Indigenous communities can mean a woman’s ability to maintain anonymity is compromised and this undermines her ability to establish a safe space for herself and her children away from violence.
Indigenous Family Violence Strategy:
In 2002, the Victorian Government released the framework for the development of the Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Strategy: A partnership approach between Indigenous Communities and Government. The framework outlined a three stage process to develop and implement an Indigenous Family Violence Strategy in Victoria:
Stage One involved establishing an Indigenous-led Task Force to provide the Government with advice about how to effectively address family violence within Indigenous Communities. Read: The Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Taskforce final report 2003
Stage Two was the Government response to the recommendations of the Task Force. See the Victorian Government Response to the Victorian Indigenous Family Violence Taskforce final report 2004 (PDF 228KB). Underpinning the Victorian Government Response was a commitment to establish an Indigenous Family Violence Partnership Forum. The Partnership Forum was established in April 2005 to allow Indigenous Communities to address Indigenous Family Violence in partnership with the Victorian Government. A key goal of the Partnership Forum is to oversee the development and implementation of a ten year plan.
Stage Three is the development and implementation of this ten year plan to address family violence in Indigenous Communities: Strong Culture, Strong Peoples, Strong Families - towards a safer future for Indigenous families and communities (PDF 869KB) or (Word 2815KB)
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