Across continents and communities, 2025 has shown that gender-based violence remains one of the most persistent threats to women and girls.
This has been a year shaped by overlapping shocks. As conflicts escalated, climate disasters worsened and budgets tightened, already stretched systems came under strain. When institutions falter, it is women’s safety, health and economic security that are pushed further out of reach.
Whether you look at reproductive health, pay, care or safety from violence, the same underlying issue emerges: the systems meant to protect people were never designed with girls and women at the centre, so when pressure mounts, they fail women first.
Gender-based violence sits at the intersection of these failures. In every region, women, girls and gender-diverse people are still facing violence in their homes, workplaces, schools and public spaces. The forms may vary, but a common thread runs through them: unequal power, deep-rooted gender norms and institutions that rarely put survivors at the centre.
Australia is not exempt from this pattern.
Its experience looks different to that of many countries in Africa, Asia or Latin America, where child marriage, dowry-related violence, female genital mutilation and conflict-related sexual violence are more visible manifestations of entrenched patriarchal control. However, the underlying dynamics of who holds power, whose safety is protected, and whose lives are left at greater risk are disturbingly familiar.
Progress on paper but not in practice
Globally, similar patterns appear when structural inequalities, whether based on ethnicity, caste, class, religion or migration status, intersect with gender. In many countries, laws have formally improved while violence has remained stubbornly high or worsened under the pressure of conflict, climate shocks and economic strain. These trends show how quickly progress can unravel when systems are fragile or under-resourced.
This global picture carries an important message for Australia. Gender equality is never a permanent achievement. It relies on sustained political will, public investment and institutions that are designed to prevent harm, not simply respond after violence occurs. The weaknesses that allow gender-based violence to persist elsewhere, which include underfunded services, gaps in protection and systems not built around women’s lives, are not unique to any one region. They are features of systems that have historically been shaped without women at their centre.
In Australia, many of the same dynamics are visible.
By several measures, 2025 looked like another year of cautious progress. Women’s workforce participation remained high, representation in leadership edged upward and policy commitments on gender equality were reaffirmed. On paper, it can appear as though things are moving in the right direction.
Yet for many women and children, especially those bearing the brunt of domestic and family violence, the reality behind those figures feels far more fragile. High-profile violence cases, rising demand for crisis services and the ongoing risks faced by women leaving abusive relationships all tell a different story.
The reality is also far from equal. First Nations women are among the most impacted, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women reported to be 32 times more likely to be hospitalized for domestic and family violence than First Nations women.
These inequities are reinforced by the way local systems function in practice. Long waiting lists for housing, complex legal processes and economic settings that leave many women with far less financial security over their lifetime can make escaping violence extraordinarily difficult. When these systems fall short, women’s safety becomes precarious, mirroring the vulnerabilities seen around the world, but in local, distinctly Australian forms.
What’s coming through in global feminist conversations
It is against this backdrop that we have been listening more closely to what women, girls and gender-diverse people are saying about their lives and priorities.
This year, I took part in a series of consultations to co-create the Feminist Playbook with advocates, health experts, community leaders and young people from across the world, from New York, Geneva and Paris to Nairobi, Beirut, Bogotá, Bangkok, Mexico City, Kathmandu and across the Pacific. This work will continue in the lead-up to WD2026, including through consultations in Australia.
Despite the diversity of perspectives in those rooms, similar concerns surfaced again and again. Funding pressures are testing women’s rights, care work is being stretched as families carry more of the load, young people are feeling overwhelmed by economic uncertainty and climate anxiety, and sexual and reproductive healthcare remains fragile, even where it was once thought secure.
Out of these discussions, the Feminist Playbook has taken shape as a collective effort to capture what people are experiencing and what they believe needs to change. It will be launched at the Women Deliver 2026 Conference in Narrm (Melbourne) as a practical tool for governments, institutions and movements. Even with the pressures we’ve heard, there is a deep sense of hope and belief that by coming together, sharing experience and co-creating solutions, we can move toward something better.
What comes next for all of us
From a global perspective, Australia often looks strong by international comparison, but being “less unequal than others” is not the same as being equal, and it can lull us into a sense that the foundations are sound. The persistence of gender-based violence and the disparities experienced by First Nations women are one of the clearest signs that those foundations still need work.
Looking ahead, the Conference will bring thousands of gender equality advocates, policymakers and community leaders from across the world to Australia. For many involved in the Playbook consultations, that moment is less about a single event and more about what it could prompt here at home.
The Conference is not intended to offer more rhetoric or familiar statistics. Instead, it aims to create space for deeper conversations about how we redesign systems so that women are not constantly left to manage the consequences of decisions made without their experiences and expertise at the centre.
2025 made it hard to ignore how exposed our systems become under pressure but it also showed how hungry people are, here and globally, for better ways of doing things. Real progress on gender equality, including ending gender-based violence, will come from the everyday decisions we make about how we fund, regulate, design and prioritise the systems that shape our lives.