Almost one in four women
2.3 million women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner since age 15.
have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner since age 15.
That’s 2.3 million women.
Gender-based violence is abuse directed at someone because of their gender or that disproportionately affects a particular gender. It includes physical and sexual violence, emotional and economic abuse, coercive control, stalking, and technology-facilitated abuse. It occurs in intimate relationships, families, workplaces, institutions, and public spaces.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by many forms of gender-based violence. The term recognises that gender inequality, discrimination, and unequal power contribute to this violence. Anyone may experience it.
2.3 million women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner since age 15.
2.2 million women have experienced sexual violence since age 15, including two million who experienced sexual assault.
Around one in four women have experienced emotional abuse, and one in six have experienced economic abuse, by a current or former cohabiting partner since age 15.
More than one in three men self-reported ever using intimate partner violence by 2022, according to Ten to Men research. Around 120,000 men began using it each year, on average, over the study period.
Of women who experienced sexual assault by a male in the ten years before the 2021–22 survey, 92% said police were not contacted about the most recent incident.
The rate more than doubled between 2022–23 and 2024–25, reaching its highest level in the available series beginning in 2016–17.
The DFSV Commission’s 2026 report also found police-recorded sexual violence offences were at their highest level since ABS reporting began more than 30 years ago.
Understanding the drivers
There is no single cause, but gender inequality is a central driver of violence against women. Violence becomes more likely when social attitudes, relationships and institutions support men’s control, restrict women’s independence or excuse abusive behaviour.
Four key drivers identified by Our Watch
Minimising abuse, blaming victim-survivors or treating violence as a private matter helps create an environment where harmful behaviour is tolerated.
Men’s control over decisions and limits on women’s independence reinforce unequal power. This includes entitlement to a partner’s body, time, money or attention.
Rigid expectations that men should be dominant and women compliant reinforce inequality and can encourage punishment of people who do not conform.
Male peer relationships that reward aggression and disrespect towards women can give harmful behaviour social approval and allow it to go unchallenged.
Personal experiences and circumstances can interact with these broader social conditions, increasing the likelihood or severity of violence.
These factors do not excuse abuse. Experiencing them does not mean someone will use violence.
The DFSV Commission’s 2026 report describes poor experiences with services and systems, and calls for earlier intervention, stronger accountability and sustained investment.
Preventing violence requires changing the conditions that enable it, alongside providing effective protection and support once it occurs.
Responsibility for violence remains with the person using it. Preventing it requires action across society.
Turning evidence into action
Education, early intervention and practical support all matter. The research calls for sustained action to prevent violence, hold people using it accountable, and make safety and recovery possible.
Embed age-appropriate education about consent, equality and respectful relationships throughout schooling. Support it with trained teachers, school policies and involvement from families and communities.
Invest in recognising and interrupting controlling and abusive behaviour earlier. Equip health, fatherhood and family services to identify risks and connect people with specialist intervention.
Fund safe housing, financial assistance, legal support, health care and counselling. Services need the capacity to provide practical help so people can achieve safety and rebuild their lives.
Improve responses across policing, family law and child protection. Identify risk earlier, take children’s experiences seriously and hold people using violence accountable. Measure whether reforms improve safety.
Design services with people facing the greatest barriers to safety. Support children’s recovery and strengthen respectful parenting and social connections. Give sexual violence dedicated funding and attention.
Challenge victim-blaming, sexism and the acceptance of controlling behaviour. Workplaces, sporting clubs, communities and institutions must reinforce equality through their everyday practices and responses to abuse.
Prevention needs long-term commitment. Safety needs practical resources. Both need funding.
Informed by Our Watch, the Australian Institute of Family Studies’ Ten to Men research and the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission’s 2026 recommendations.
Research & evidence
The research, national data and human rights statements informing this page.
The 2021–22 Personal Safety Survey provides figures on women’s experiences of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. The user guide explains its definitions, methods and limitations.
National evidence on family, domestic and sexual violence, including emotional and economic abuse, reporting to police, and factors associated with violence.
The 2025 report, The use of intimate partner violence among Australian men, is the source for the 35% lifetime figure and the estimate of around 120,000 men beginning to use intimate partner violence each year, on average, over the study period.
The Yearly Report to Parliament: September 2026 informs the findings on First Nations women’s intimate partner homicide rates, police-recorded sexual violence, and the need for earlier intervention, accountability and sustained investment.
The Change the story framework identifies four gendered drivers of violence against women: condoning violence, men’s control and limits on women’s independence, rigid gender roles, and male peer relations that emphasise aggression and disrespect towards women.
The Commission described gendered violence as a “national emergency” in August 2024. In July 2026, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody described domestic violence as a “national crisis”.
Following her 2017 visit, UN Special Rapporteur Dubravka Šimonović described violence against women in Australia as “disturbingly common” and raised concerns about Indigenous women being left behind. This was an expert assessment, rather than a formal UN declaration of a national emergency.
Behind every statistic is a woman or girl with her own life, relationships, ambitions and right to feel safe. Violence changes how we move through the world, who we trust, and the choices we make.
The numbers help us understand the scale but will never capture all that is taken from us or who we continue to be. Women and girls deserve to be heard, supported, and valued as whole people.
Our safety should never depend on becoming another headline.
Responsibility belongs with the person who chose violence.
1800RESPECT
National domestic, family and sexual violence counselling, information and support.
Lifeline
24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention services.
13YARN
Culturally safe crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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