Walk for Women Killed by Male ViolenceOn Friday 14 March 2025 community members from Camperdown and surrounding areas walked to remember women killed by male violence.

Walk for Women Killed by Male Violence

March 17, 2025

News

Walk for Women Killed by Male Violence

By Zoe Wilkinson (Law Clerk - GRIT Legal)

On Friday 14 March 2025, community members from Camperdown and surrounding areas walked to remember women killed by male violence.

The walk begun at a special place: Wombeetch Puyuun Reconciliation Park. The park recognises Wombeetch Puyuun, who was the last member of the Liwura gundidj clan to still be living on Country until his death in 1883. You can read more about Wombeetch Puyuun here.

This location was chosen to highlight the disproportionate rates of violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. From June to November last year, one third of the women allegedly killed by male violence were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, despite only making up 4% of the population. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are also thirty-one times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of violence.[1]

Male violence is one of the most pressing and urgent issues facing Australian women today; 27% of women have experienced violence, emotional abuse, or economic abuse by a partner since the age of 15.

Additonally, intimate partner violence contributes to more contributes to more death, disability and illness in women aged 25-44 than any other preventable risk factor. Domestic or family violence is also a leading driver of homelessness for women.[2]

It is up to both men and women to stand up and speak out against this violence and the attitudes towards women that enable it. Research shows that approximately 1 in 4 men in Australia aged 18 to 45 say they have used physical and/or sexual violence against an intimate partner.[3]

Men who identify with rigid stereotypes of masculinity are seventeen times more likely to say they have hit a partner. These stereotypes include that men should be tough, aggressive and in control. Challenging these stereotypes is one way to help prevent male violence against women.[4]

To honour the lives of women killed by male violence we prepared small cards, each depicting one woman killed by male violence in the last ten months. There were fifty cards in total.

Each card contained the woman’s name and details about who she was as a person, including her career, her family, her hopes, her dreams, passions and hobbies. Every person in attendance chose a card and kept it with them as they walked.

Learning about the lives of women killed by male violence is important because, even when these women do make it into the media, the headlines and articles are often more focused on the men who murdered them or the circumstances of the murder, rather than the woman herself.

Some of the cards say ‘‘Unnamed Woman.’ This is because, in many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, it is disrespectful to speak someone’s name after they pass away under Sorry Business protocols.[5]

We must still acknowledge and remember these women. The lack of media coverage and public outcry when an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander woman is killed has been called Australia's "national shame".[6]

These women receive even less care and attention than non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. As explained by Judge Elisabeth Armitage, this is “indicative of systemic racism…the belief that [Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander] women are somehow less deserving of our grief, outrage and our collective response.”[7]

The idea to honour and learn about the lives of women killed by men was inspired by journalist Sherele Moody. Sherele reports on women killed by violence and explains the purpose of her work as follows;

“It’s about trying to tell their stories and let people know they are not just someone’s wife or mother or someone whose body was found in a bin. It’s that this was a unique person who is not here anymore, through no fault of their own. It’s important that we remember and keep the space to tell their stories.”[8]

Please consider looking into Sherele’s work:

The RED HEART Campaign: The RED HEART Campaign | Memorial to women & children lost to violence

Instagram: @sherelemoodyfemicidewatch

Facebook: Sherele Moody