Australia’s young people now acknowledge that our society has a problem with domestic violence but still struggle to recognise some of the key attitudes that it results from, according to new data released today.
The White Ribbon Foundation and Youth Action NSW conducted a comprehensive study of 3000 young Australian men and women aged 16 to 25 in order to collect data about this generation’s attitudes towards domestic violence.
A similar study was conducted by the federal government in 1999, but no attempt to collect this kind of information has been made in the intervening 15 years. During that same period, the young people surveyed in 1999 have grown up, and a new generation of young Australians has been born and reached adolescence – and this generation has never been asked about their attitudes to domestic violence.
So White Ribbon and Youth Action NSW decided to collect the information we need to understand how young people in contemporary Australia think about domestic violence, as well as the attitudes towards relationships that lead to violence.
They were encouraged to discover that more than three quarters (76%) of Australia’s youth understand that domestic violence is common.
“Broadly, the outcomes of the research were pretty good. It is positive that, by and large, young people have a good understanding of domestic violence and recognise that it is wrong,” Youth Action NSW Director of Policy and Advocacy Eamon Waterford told Women’s Agenda.
“Overall, the message that domestic violence and sexual violence are not acceptable is getting through.”
But he said when you analyse the results for young men, the picture looks very different.
One in four young men agreed that, “Girls like guys who are in charge of the relationship” – but only one in 10 young women agreed with the same statement.
One in six young men agreed that, “Men are supposed to be the head of the household and take control of the relationship”. Only one in 20 young women agreed with the same statement.
One in seven young men agreed that, “Men are usually better at more things than women”.
The results also demonstrated a lack of understanding about what constitutes violence in a relationship.
For example, 13% of young men agreed that, “If you are dating then you are expected to have sex with your partner” and one in five men agreed that, “It is not always wrong to hit someone, sometimes they provoke it”.
“What we found very concerning was that there is a significant trend among young men of having a very poor understanding of domestic violence and gender stereotypes overall,” Waterford said.
“We found a large portion of young men who still have very negative attitudes about gender stereotypes; attitudes thathark back to a bygone era when most people agreed that men were expected to be in control of the household and the relationship.”
“The difference between the number of men who agreed that men should be in control of a relationship – one in six – and the number of women who agreed – one in 20 – is very concerning.”
Waterford also said young men seem to have a poor understanding of the myriad ways in which domestic violence can present itself, particularly in their own experiences of dating.
“We have reached a point where most young people would agree that it is wrong to physically or sexually abuse your partner, but when it comes to subtler forms of violence, like economic or social violence, young peoples’ understanding is much more limited,” he said.
“We also see this in the way that young people in the survey failed to associate domestic violence with violent behaviours in their own dating relationships. They would agreed that a man hitting his wife is wrong, but when it came to their own relationships, they were more likely to see behaviours they were experiencing as just normal elements of dating.”
Waterford said it is important when looking at data such as this to recognise how significant attitudes are in contributing to broader issues of gender discrimination.
“Attitudes don’t just matter for an ephemeral, abstract reason. We have ample research telling us that negative attitudes about relationships and gender are closely correlated with domestic violence related behaviours,” he said.
So what can be done?
Waterford said one of the most effective solutions to this concerning trend is educational programs in high schools.
“The group most likely to display these poor attitudes are school students, so we just need better education about domestic violence in every single high school in Australia,” he said.
“We need to catch this generation while we still have a chance of changing the way they think about relationships, and better education is the way to do that. It is a way to break an ongoing cycle of gender discrimination and violence.”
Waterford also said it is important to act immediately to avoid missing the opportunity to shape the way the current generation of young people think and feel about relationships.
“These young people are on the cusp of forming relationships that will impact them for life, and if we can help them enter and sustain healthy, respectful relationships now, we will reap the benefits for years and generations to come.”
“We need to work on eliminating these damaging attitudes before these attitudes and behaviours becomes embedded.”
“Educating these young people about healthy attitudes is a preventative measure that costs very little but has a huge impact in terms of reducing violence.”