Australian Human Rights Commission
Information for List of Issues on Australia, 29 September 2017
When employed, women are more likely to work in part-time or casual
roles than men. Women comprise 40.7% of full-time employees, while
men comprise 69.1%.9
Women continue to be under-represented in leadership and board
positions.10
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Violence against women and girls and their health and
wellbeing (concluding observations paras 28–29 and CEDAW
Articles 1–4, 12 and 16)
3.1
Family and domestic violence
8.
Family and domestic violence (FDV) in Australia remains endemic and
continues to negatively affect the realisation of gender equality.
9.
The Commission commends efforts made to address violence against women
and girls under the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and
their Children 2010–22 (the National Plan),11 and additional funding committed
in 2015 to both prevention and response measures and services. 12
10.
The Commission is concerned about the lack of Australia-wide data on FDV
related deaths. The Commission has highlighted the importance of the FDV
death review process and welcomes the Government’s funding to examine
measures to ensure national coherence and collection of data on FDV
deaths.13
11.
The intersection of gender with other forms of inequality results in women with
disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, lesbian, bisexual, trans
and intersex women, and women from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds experiencing higher rates of FDV and additional barriers to
seeking help and support.14
Issues for consideration in the LOI:
Information on steps taken by the Australian Government to strengthen
national FDV data collection and reporting mechanisms.
Information on specific research undertaken to understand the nature and
prevalence of FDV, sexual assault and sexual harassment for women and
girls experiencing intersectional discrimination, and specific actions to
explicitly address those intersectional causes.
3.2
12.
Violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
(concluding observations paras 40–41 and CEDAW Articles 1
and 16)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are at higher risk of violence,
compared to the general population.15 They are hospitalised for family
violence-related assault at 30 times the rate of non-Indigenous women.16
4