Understanding root cause of gender-based violence starts with men, minister says

Freshly appointed Women and Gender Equality Minister Marci Ien says as part of her effort to combat gender-based violence she intends to place a lens on men to understand why it happens in the first place.

She says the issue is among her priorities for the department because it is “clearly unacceptable,” and she wants to not only support women but focus on men to figure out the root causes of the problem.

The minister says her department will continue to conduct research on gender-based violence so that they understand the issue, identify gaps and find areas of improvement.

Gender equality advocates have been sounding the alarm on a rise in gender-based violence during the pandemic, a trend which the United Nations has referred to as a “shadow pandemic.”

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Advocates have also been calling for the federal government to put in place stable funding for programs that work to end gender-based violence.

While the government has set aside funding to create a national action plan to prevent and address gender-based violence, a detailed plan has yet to be made public.