In just three days, we lost two women and two girls to femicide across the country.
A man has been charged with killing Jana Armstrong - she is the fourth female victim of male violence in Australia since July 4. Jana was reported missing from Newtown, Queensland, on July 7. The alleged killer is known to her and charged with murder (domestic violence).
We also lost 13-year-old Layla Jeffery on July 4, a 17-year-old unnamed girl on July 6 and 39-year-old mum-of-two Lavanya Chappa on July 7.
In all their cases, the accused killers are known to the victims.
This is what a femicide epidemic looks like. It features men and boys killing women and girls because they can.
Jana, Lavanya, Layla, the unnamed girl - indeed all victims of femicide - deserve a national truth-telling. Their families deserve to be heard at a Royal Commission into the Killing of Women and Girls.
Please support Sherele Moody with her objective of making the govt hold a Royal Commission which would:
-
Examine all unlawful deaths of women and girls;
-
Examine the need for a federal femicide law similar to those already in place in other countries;
-
Investigate why First Nations women are more likely than any other woman to experience traumatic injury or death as a result of intimate partner violence;
-
Examine the complex and significant needs of women from diverse and marginalised backgrounds including First Nations women, women with English as a second language, women who are chronically ill or living with disability, sex workers, trans and gender non-binary people and women who are lesbian, bisexual, intersex or queer;
-
Lay bare the systemic failures that underpin the violent deaths of women and girls, including the ways in which police, the courts and support services routinely fail victims before they are killed;
-
Look into increased provision of appropriate resources and funding to ensure all women and girls have access to services including safe and affordable housing and legal supports;
-
Examine how the legal system is designed around the rights and needs of perpetrators not the victims and how this impacts sentencing, parole and bail outcomes;
-
Examine the factors of violence against women which Our Watch describes as: Condoning of violence against women; Men’s control of decision-making and limits to women’s independence in public and private life; Rigid gender stereotyping and dominant forms of masculinity; and Male peer relations and cultures of masculinity that emphasise aggression, dominance and control; and
-
Examine how social media and mainstream media frame attitudes towards women and girls.
