Final Evaluation Report

3.2 Awareness and Understanding of Violence

The NCAS is designed to gauge community knowledge of, and attitudes towards, violence against women to identify areas that need attention in future. It is also designed to assess over time the changes in knowledge, attitudes and responses to violence against women. The most recent NCAS was conducted in 2013. Previous iterations were conducted in 1995 and 2009.
The NCAS 2013 surveyed 17,500 Australians aged 16 years and older. The survey indicated very little change across a range of indicators, particularly those for awareness or understanding of domestic violence. This is not necessarily an indication of poor performance because many indicators the awareness of domestic violence was already quite high in 1995. For example, 97 per cent of people surveyed agreed that slapping and/or pushing to cause fear was a form of domestic violence. This has remained at exactly the same rate for each iteration of the survey. Similarly, the proportion of the sample who agree that forcing a partner to have sex is a form of domestic violence has been in the mid-high ninety percentile range for each of the three NCAS surveys.
Figure 3.9: Changes over time in the understanding of certain behaviours as forms of partner violence/violence against women

Source: KPMG analysis of the NCAS

Indicators for which there have been considerable change include:

• 
  The proportion of people who believe that repeatedly criticising to make partner feel bad/useless is a form of domestic violence. In 1995, only 71 per cent of people surveyed agreed that repeatedly criticising to make partner feel bad/useless is a form of domestic violence. This increased to 85 per cent in 2009 and increased slightly again to 86 per cent in 2013⁵⁶.
  
• 
  The proportion of people who agree that controlling a person’s social life is a form of domestic violence. In 1995 only 74 per cent of people surveyed agreed that controlling a person’s social life is a form of domestic violence. This increased to 83 per cent in 2009 and increase slightly again to 85 per cent in 2013⁵⁷.
  
• 
  The proportion of people who agree that controlling a partner by denying them money is a form of domestic violence. In 1995 only 62 per cent of people surveyed agreed that controlling a person’s social life is a form of domestic violence. This increased to 71 per cent in 2009 and then slightly decreased again to 70 per cent in 2013.
  

In the NCAS 2013, 96 per cent of respondents agreed that domestic violence is a criminal offence. This was a statistically significant 3 per cent reduction on the results for 1995. In addition, there was a statistically significant 4 per cent increase in the proportion of respondents who believed that a woman cannot be raped by someone she is in a relationship with; a 10 per cent increase in the proportion of respondents who believe rape results from men not being able to control their sexual urges and a 3 per cent increase in the proportion of respondents who believe that there are circumstances in which women share some of the responsibility for sexual assault.⁵⁸ These results are shown below in Figure 3.10. Together they present a concerning change in young people’s attitudes towards violence against women within intimate relationships.
Figure 3.10: Changes over time in the attitudes which excuse violence against women

Source: KPMG analysis of the NCAS

3.3 Behavioural Patterns and Attitudes to Violence

Attitudes to violence against women have fluctuated over time, as measured by community understanding of why women stay in violent situations or respond to violent situations by making criminal claims such as rape. See Figure 3.11 which shows that the proportion of people who find it difficult to understand why women stay in violent situations has decreased incrementally, from 82 per cent in 2009 to 78 per cent in 2013. However, the proportion of people who believe that women often say ‘no’ when they mean ‘yes’ has increased from 14 per cent in 2009 to 16 per cent in 2013.

Figure 3.11: Changes over time in three indicators of attitudes to violence.

Source: KPMG analysis of the NCAS

Other indicators which were not collected in 1995 but began being collected in 2009 indicated a regression in attitudes toward violence against women. For example, there has been a reduction in the proportion of respondents who believe that discrimination against women in no longer a problem in the work place in Australia and an increase in the proportion of people who believe domestic violence can be excused if the victim is heavily affected by alcohol as well as an increase in the proportion of people who believe that a woman is partly responsible for her rape if she is drunk or affected by drugs. There has also been a concerning increase in the proportion of people who believe that women going through a custody battle often make up claims of domestic violence to better their case for custody of children. The data for 2009 to 2014 indicates a small improvement in people’s understanding of the situation that victims of domestic violence find themselves in. In 2009, 54 per cent of respondents believed that women could leave a violent relationship if they wanted to. This reduced to 51 per cent in 2014 (refer figure 3.12).

Figure 3.12: Indicators of community attitudes to violence against women

Source: KPMG analysis of the NCAS

The NCAS shows that respondents who support equitable gender roles and relationships are more likely to understand violence against women “as comprising a range of physical, psychological, social and economic means of intimidation and control (versus physical violence and forced sex alone)”⁵⁹. In fact, once attitudes towards gender and understanding of violence against women had been taken into account, the NCAS “found that demographic factors (for example age, gender, country of birth) have a limited influence on Australian’s attitudes”⁶⁰. This highlights the importance of improving community understanding and practice of equitable gender roles and developing respectful relationships.

Figure 3.13: Indicators of community attitudes towards women

Source: KPMG analysis of the NCAS