In February 2009, the Australian Government commissioned the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) to undertake a survey intended to measure national community attitudes towards violence against women. The survey conducted over 12,000 phone and face-to-face interviews with men and women from a wide range of backgrounds including culturally diverse populations and indigenous Australians in order to collect information about Australians' views on violence against women.
The survey revealed that some significant and positive shifts occurred in the general community’s attitudes and beliefs towards violence against women since 1995 when a similar survey was conducted. However, the survey’s results still demonstrated a need for improvement since a large number of respondents continued to report attitudes that condone, justify, or excuse violence against women.
The results from the survey will guide future development and targeting of interventions that can build cultures of non-violence and value equal and respectful relationships between men and women.
To see a summary of the survey’s findings, click here.
Compiled from: “National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey 2009.” Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (February 2009).