New Report Shows 66 Percent Drop in Women Killed by Men in Last 30 Years

‘These are positive changes, but zero is the only acceptable number of gender-based homicides,’ Patty Kinnersly said.

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A new national report card on violence against women reveals a 66 percent drop in women killed by men in the last three decades.

The report, published on July 26, also found there had been a decline in the “harmful attitudes” that drive violence in the past 20 years.

Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly said that while 43 women have allegedly been killed by men’s violence this year, Australia was making progress in preventing violence against women.

“When we look at the longer-term picture, we can see significant reductions in the number of women killed by men’s violence, reductions in women experiencing violence, and improvements in community attitudes that reject and challenge this violence,” she said.

“These are positive changes, but zero is the only acceptable number of gender-based homicides and there is still significant work to do if we want to see violence against women rapidly decline.”

The report (pdf) also found 90 percent of Australians reject many aspects of violence against women.

It stated there was a 13 percent fall in young men supporting “harmful ideas of masculinity” in the last five years.

Further, the authors said there was a 12 percent fall in young men feeling pressure to “conform to rigid ideals of masculinity” in the last five years.

Ms. Kinnersly said this finding showed positive momentum in challenging the “cultures of masculinity that can drive violence against women.”

“We know from recent research that men who hold rigid and harmful ideals of masculinity, like that men should use violence to get respect, are 17 times more likely to have hit an intimate partner compared to men who hold healthier views of what it is to be a man,” she said.

“This demonstrates the connection between attitudes and behaviour, and the importance of showing young men that there’s more than one way to be a man.”

Intimate Partner Homicides Increased

Sexual violence rose significantly between 2012 and 2016 but did not change significantly from 2016 to 2021-22, the authors noted.

“Similarly in 2021 to 2022, there was a decrease in the proportion of women experiencing intimate partner (physical) violence but no change in intimate partner sexual violence,” the report said.

The Our Watch report noted there was a fall in women experiencing sexual harassment from a male from 2016 to 2021-22.

“Importantly, available data highlights that people who experience other forms of discrimination experience higher levels of violence,” the authors said.

Intimate partner homicide data cited in the report showed a rise from 27 women in 2020-2021 to 34 women in 2o22-23.

“In the first half of 2024, there has been a high number of women murdered,” the report said.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls are murdered at significantly higher rates than non-Aboriginal females (3.07 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls per 100,000 females compared to 0.45 for non-Aboriginal women and girls).”

Men Need To Appreciate Positives of Masculinity: Study

Meanwhile, a separate study published in the International Journal of Health Sciences found men’s views on their masculinity can impact their mental well-being.

“The present study adds the significant new knowledge that how men view their masculinity is significantly related to their mental well-being too,” the authors noted in the August 2023 paper. 

“One implication is that if we want men to have good mental health, a useful strategy might be to help them to appreciate the ways in which their masculinity can have a positive impact on their behavior and the people around them.”

The researchers noted that this may be difficult for many men, considering “even global corporations have adopted the fashion of taking the view that masculinity is something to be frightened of.”

The paper said that while men don’t tend to think much about their masculinity and don’t want to talk about it with others a lot, it has become the subject of “such hype and hysteria” that is hard to ignore.

“However, there is growing evidence that the negative narrative about masculinity has a harmful impact on men, so the positive message from research, such as the present study, highlights the need to create a more realistic and healthy narrative about men and masculinity.”