Content Warning: femicide and gendered violence.
Dramatic. Emotional. Hysterical.
All words that have become all too familiar in my years as a young woman — and I know I’m not alone. But they shouldn’t mean much, right? What is it they say? Sticks and stones might break my bones, but words will never hurt me. After all, they’re only silly sounds woven together, what power do they wield?
But that’s just it. They are not simply descriptors — they’re weapons. Tools, sharpened over time, designed to frame women’s concerns as overreactions and their pain as performance. These harsh words speak to a much more insidious language, designed to shame, silence, and dismiss women.
From classrooms to workplaces, police stations to courtrooms, these words are repeated. The women of Australia are being ignored, and as a result, they are being killed. This ignorance is not an occasional oversight, but a systematic inaction that follows women from their youth.
“He was joking, you’re being dramatic!” “Why are you crying, he barely even touched you?” “Just ignore it — boys will be boys.”
Offhanded comments like these have turned into the bedrock of a culture that refuses to take women seriously until it’s too late. A culture that indoctrinates girls to believe from a young age that they should second-guess their instincts, swallow their discomfort, and dismiss their own harm — harm that so often escalates. And the blood that is shed is not just on the hands of the perpetrators; it stains every leader, every institution, every system that chooses to enforce dismissal over action.
This is not a coincidence, or an anomaly, or a rare misfortune. Australian women are victims of a national emergency. Every single one of us. And if this silence continues, more women will die. Not metaphorically. Not symbolically. But brutally, and in plain sight.
This violence that I’m referring to doesn’t begin with bruises or broken bones. It begins with a young girl who speaks up in a classroom, only to be ignored. Stupid. Or maybe with women who report discomfort in workplaces only to be brushed off. Bitch. More likely, it starts with victims who describe their abuse in police reports that sit unopened. Irrational. Across Australia, women are taught from their youth — in ways both quiet and loud — that their safety is negotiable. It is embedded within their souls that their discomfort is simply an inconvenience, and their fear is an overreaction.
Neurotic. Gossipy. Delusional.
Consequently, so many never speak out. And those who do? They have the burden of proving their pain. They have to relive their trauma and provide evidence that can rarely be quantified. And in most cases they are questioned with suspicion, rather than support. “Were you drinking at the time?” “Have you ever made accusations like this before?” “Why didn’t you leave sooner?”
Slut. Hormonal. Crazy.
In the workplace, women who report harassment are met with HR departments that prioritise company image over accountability. In schools, young girls are asked to adapt their behaviour instead of addressing the concerning behaviour in their male counterparts.
Those in positions of authority, the people we are told to trust — whether they are teachers, managers, police officers — not only fail to prevent violence; they create the conditions for it to grow.
These conditions ultimately perpetuate the violence of men. Because when women are labelled and mocked instead of listened to, a clear message is extended to those who do harm: You will not be held accountable. What are our systems, our protectors, our leaders doing? They are allowing their dismissal to become permission. And slowly, violence grows from whispered threats to slammed doors, to fists, to funerals. What becomes of Australia’s women then?
Quiet. Beautiful. Buried.
In 2024, over 100 women were allegedly murdered at the hands of a man. 23 of them were stabbed to death, seven of them were shot, two were killed by a car. Bludgeoned. Bashed. Suffocated. Strangled. Burnt to death. Suffered severe head injuries. These aren’t isolated tragedies: they are the consequence of a system that shames women, perpetuating male violence. A system that uses their words as weapons against women until their battered bodies become evidence.
In 2022, the Australian government released The National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children, a national policy aiming to end violence against women and children within one generation. However the attempts of our leaders to prevent femicide have been anything but successful. Since 2022, Australia has seen a steady increase of the number of women killed in gender-based violence. We are not doing enough.
When our leaders only speak after the funerals commence, when police act only after a body is discovered, it is not an act of justice and it is not progressive. It is damage control, and it is shameful.
We are in a crisis, and it will not be solved with reactive policies. We need a radical shift that enforces action. Our government must increase funding to family violence services, expand access to public housing for women who are escaping danger, and reform the criminal justice system to focus on survivor support, rather than skepticism. We need well-rounded strategies in schools to identify and stop violence and accountability mechanisms in workplaces.
And as well as policy, this change starts with us.
We need to believe women the first time they speak out. Interrupt misogynistic jokes, question casual sexism and stop brushing off discomfort as harmless. We must teach that violence, in all its forms, is never okay. Our women must be empowered; to know that their fear is not an overreaction, their voice is not too loud, that their pain is not too much.
If we want to save women, we must listen to them while they still have a voice to speak with.
This is not a women’s issue, or a feminist issue, or a debate — it is a national emergency. If we are truly serious about stopping violence against women, we must stop managing the aftermath and start dismantling the conditions that allow it to thrive. We must tear down the systems that excuse and enable perpetrators — and build new ones that centre women’s safety and the sanctity of their lives.
Australia loves its daughters quiet and buried; given attention to only once they’ve become gravesites. But no more. The time for silence has passed, and the time for reckoning is not coming. It’s already here.
If you or any of your loved ones have been affected by the issues mentioned in this article, please consider contacting the resources below:
NSW Sexual Violence Helpline – Provides 24/7 telephone and online crisis counselling for anyone in Australia who has experienced or is at risk of sexual assault, family or domestic violence and their non-offending supporters. The service also has a free telephone interpreting service available upon request.
Safer Communities Office – Specialist staff experienced in providing an immediate response to people that have experienced sexual misconduct, domestic/family violence, bullying/harassment and issues relating to modern slavery.
Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Service – Provides legal advice and sort for a range of issues, including domestic, sexual, and family violence, to Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander women, children and youth.
1800RESPECT – A service available 24/7 with counsellors that supports everyone impacted by domestic, family and sexual violence.
Lifeline – 24/7 suicide prevention crisis support hotline for anyone experiencing a personal or mental health crisis.
