Submission to Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence

This document is a submission made in 2015 by the APS to the Victorian Government’s Royal Commission into Family Violence.

The APS submission emphasises the need for fundamental social change to remove the cultural supports of violence against women, and outlines a number of principles that should be central to any response to domestic and family violence.

Family violence can be viewed as an extension of rigid gender roles which permit or even encourage some men to assume control over women, and to use violence as a means of exercising that control. It is essential that new models of masculinity are encouraged that genuinely treat women as equals in public and private life.

It is imperative that the link between gender inequality and inequity, gender stereotypes and domestic violence be made explicit in all discussions about the causes and consequences of domestic violence.

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