In the 10 years since the Royal Commission into Family Violence was established, we have repeatedly heard phrases like, ‘national crisis’, ‘shockingly high rates of murder,’ and ‘the epidemic of violence against women’. The recent string of violent incidents has reignited grief and anger that women, non-binary and gender diverse people in Australia have been feeling and expressing for a long time . This collective outrage has coalesced into a national dialogue about gendered violence, women’s safety and domestic violence. In Australia, one woman is violently killed every four days. Each one of these deaths is one death too many and every murder as a result of men’s violence needs our outrage and attention.
As the conversations continue to unfold, the analyses made and the articles shared, we can’t help but notice a pattern: the media interest, coverage, expressions of shock and public reaction have been different depending on the identity of the victim(s).
At this moment, we are reminded of Judith Butler who once wrote: “The question that preoccupies me in the light of recent global violence is, who counts as human? Whose lives count as lives? And finally, what makes for a grievable life?”
When it comes to reporting on violence against women, why are some lives afforded more attention and public outrage?
Mainstream media plays a crucial role in setting the public agenda on what is deemed worthy of our care and concern. Where the experiences of white, middle-class women often make front page news, communities that are further marginalised by systems and structures of oppression are often rendered invisible or not worthy of our attention. Where there is media reporting on migrant and refugee victim/survivors, the narrative is almost always built around racial and gendered stereotypes. While we have seen some changes, there is still a tendency in media reporting to ignore the social context or the underlying drivers of violence.
Murder rates for First Nations women are eight times higher than for non-Indigenous women. Evidence shows that First Nations women, as well as migrant and refugee women, are most impacted by severe and prolonged periods of violence, which are the result of the ongoing legacies of colonisation, structural inequality, racism, and discrimination. Gendered violence is also more complex for women with disabilities and people who identify as LGBTIQA+, where their experiences of violence can intersect with other forms of discrimination such as homophobia and ableism. And yet, their voices and experiences are often dismissed or erased from the national conversation on violence against women.
We cannot begin to have a meaningful conversation about violence against women in this country without understanding how our systems and institutions shape dominant narratives about whose lives matter and whose lives are grievable. While Butler was writing in the wake of 9/11 and ongoing US aggression in Afghanistan, their questions remain relevant today, especially in relation to Palestine. According to the UN report in Gaza, an estimated 63 women, including 37 mothers, are being killed daily and approximately 17,000 Palestinian children having been orphaned since October 7. The selective and minimal media coverage of what UN experts refer to as the systematic onslaught of violence committed against Palestinian women and children in Gaza by the Israeli Occupation Forces, is another example of the media’s role in shaping the public conversation and indifference towards the lives of women of colour.
Decades of advocacy and activism led by women of colour tell us that we must stop this selective outrage and push for justice and recognition for all victims and survivors of gendered violence. Because all lives are grievable.
This article was first published in edition #133 of The WRAP on May 2024.