Samantha*, 27, remembers the first time her ex-husband smashed his fist into her face.

"I came home from doing the shopping one Saturday to find Tom*, 33, lazing about on the couch, drinking a beer with three empty beer bottles lying on the floor," she recalls. "I was so amd, and this wasn't the first time either. I lost it and I started shouting about how much he was drinking and I told him that he had a problem."

Tom screamed at her, and before she knew it, he had pulled his arm back and his knuckles made contact with her face. Samantha fell back on to the armchair whilst Tom started kicking her uncontrollably. “I was too scared to make a sound. I drew my legs up to protect myself and my arms were wrapped around my head,” she says. Samantha was left in deafening silence, as Tom slammed the door and went out. She scampered away, ran up the stairs and quickly locked herself in the bedroom.

The next morning, Samantha had a black eye so bruised that it had swollen shut.

“I was too scared to look at him, but he came up and hugged me. He promised it would never happen again.”

 A 2005 national survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 23% of Australian women have experienced domestic abuse similar to Samantha’s, yet more than 80% of these men are never brought to justice.

With the recent event of International Women’s Day highlighting the need for protective laws for abused women, there has been a call for the Government to sign the United Nations Optional Protocol Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The convention establishes not only an international bill of rights for women, but also an agenda for action by countries to guarantee the employment of these rights. By signing off on this protocol there would possibly be more protection and services for women like Samantha.

Senator Natasha Stott Despoja has urged the Government to take action.

“While International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate the achievements and milestones of women across the globe, it is also a timely reflection on the hurdles women still face in achieving universal gender equality,” she says.

Among the international human right treaties, the Convention takes an “important place in bringing the female half of humanity into the focus of human right concerns.”

Senator Stott Despoja believes the Government has this opportunity to revolutionise the status of women in this country. “They can provide real policies for reform in the areas of work and family balance, gender inequality and gender based violence but they have yet to prove they are up for the challenge,” she says.

Whilst Australia has adopted most of the laws listed on the protocol including the rights to equal pay and to vote, the Government has not signed the optional protocol, which could affect the current debate regarding paid maternity leave.

The past government did implement campaigns such as Australia Says No, to increase public awareness and urge victims to come forward.

The Rudd Labour Government, as of November last year, plan to instigate a ‘National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children’ to better protect women such as Samantha.

They have planned to invest $150 million over five years to build 600 additional houses to accommodate people who have been victims of domestic abuse. However, until this plan is put into motion many women remain homeless and fearing for their safety.

This fear often leads to domestic abuse remaining unreported to police, with one Australian Bureau of Statistics survey showing that only 19% of women who had been physically assaulted by a man in a 12-month period reported the incident.

A sample of young people revealed that the ‘Australia Says No’ campaign enlightened them on the issues of domestic abuse, but they did not take it too seriously. Only 20% knew someone who had been abused but in both cases, the woman had not reported it to the police and had not spoken to any support service.

However attitudes on domestic abuse have changed significantly since the 1970s. The same sample group said that although they knew it was wrong, they thought that people in their 30-40s were the ones that the campaigns should be targeting.

Also the availability of services such as the Domestic Violence Line, Domestic Violence Advocacy Service and the Women’s Legal Resources Centre has improved the information and assistance given to victims of domestic violence.

Experts believe that domestically abusive men are from families where male violence towards females in the home was a regular occurrence. Dr Huynh, a lecturer in social work at the Research Unit on Gendered Violence at the University of Queensland says that while domestic violence is understood to be about men who have a problem with anger or poor impulse control, men are able to make choices whether or not to control it.

“It’s just another excuse for men not to take responsibility for their violent actions and to maintain power in their relationship,” she says. “And that when men can finally recognize this, whether it be through different campaigns or articles in papers about domestic abuse, then there can be change.”

original image by Retinafunk
courtesy of Creative Commons