Margie Maccoll
“Violence against women is not inevitable, it is preventable,“ Zonta Club of Noosa president Robyn O’Neill told a group of supporters who marched along Gympie Terrace last Sunday to say no to violence against women and girls.
“To end violence against women we need to challenge attitudes that perpetuate, rationalise and normalise that violence and deny women’s rights to safety,“ Robyn said.
“Violence is the language of the inarticulate. It’s so true. We’ve seen it in our own lives when people get so angry they can’t speak – that’s when they resort to physical violence. Too many people don’t understand how to express themselves without dominance, power and control.
“Respect starts with a conversation, so let’s start talking. We need to start real conversations about why ordinary people commit horrific acts of violence against the people closest to them.“
The club’s annual walk is part of Zonta International’s 16 Days of Activism campaign (from 25 November to World Human Rights Day on 10 December) against gender-based violence, aimed at raising awareness of the risks, impact and dangers of gender-based violence.
So far this year, 58 women in Australia have been killed in domestic and family violence situations.
Robyn described the campaign as a call for action, a critical part in a global movement “against one of world’s most persistent violations against human rights and that is violence against women“.
“Calls for action are crucial. They shine a spotlight on the issue of violence against women,“ she said.
“They are a moment to create public awareness of what needs to change to prevent it from happening in the first place at all at local, national and international level. Because as we know violence against women and girls is something that effects every country in world.
“To end violence against women we need to challenge attitudes that perpetuate, rationalise and normalise that violence and deny women’s rights to safety.
“Shifting behaviours is hard and slow but gender equality means all of us and working with all genders is the only way to see true change. We need the men to stand beside the women all the way.
“While men can be victims as well, they are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of gender based violence.“
After a week chairing public hearings held by the Youth Justice Reform Select Committee, Noosa MP Sandy Bolton told the group what she had heard taught her much more than a discussion was needed.
“What we’ve seen in households across Queensland – it starts right there,“ Sandy said.
“It’s all interconnected. The children who are coming out of those households – it is deeply disturbing that we haven’t broken the cycle and we have so much more to do.
“What we have found is there’s a lack of communication to the assistance available and also the early interventions that happen right in our schools.
“Just about every witness I’ve heard this week has said it takes a community, it takes a society. It’s not just up to government or one person, it takes all of us.
“I ask you to spread the word that there is help and within the homes to reach out. If you don’t know who to reach out to call council, call myself, call somebody and we will connect you and follow Zonta on Facebook.“
