More than 100 women have been killed in Australia in 2024
Australian women were killed at astronomically high rates this year, with the death toll surpassing 100 as two more lost their lives this week.
National
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Australia has reached the most tragic of milestones this festive season – more than 100 deaths involving violence against women.
On Boxing Day, a woman was stabbed to death in the Melbourne suburb of Langwarrin, while just days earlier, a 47-year-old woman died at Currimundi on Queensland’s sunshine coast, from an assault.
Neither woman has been named.
Police charged a person known to the Currimundi woman with assault occasioning bodily harm (domestic violence offence) and obstructing police, while a man was arrested over the Langwarrin attack.
The tragedies saw the Red Heart Campaign’s Femicide Watch Database grimly reach a century – a steep jump up from 2023, where 74 women were killed as a result of murder, manslaughter or neglect.
The database catalogues the violent deaths of Australian women, as well as key information about the alleged perpetrators such as their gender and relationship to the victim.
Founder of the Red Heart Campaign, Sherele Moody, said this year’s deaths reflect more of an increase in severity of violence than an increase of violence itself.
“Not every woman is killed but many thousands of women are injured physically and emotionally every day across the country.,” she said.
“The legal system also jails men for disturbingly underwhelming periods despite deliberate acts of violence.”
An overwhelming majority (88 per cent) of alleged perpetrators of violence against women in 2024 were men.
A significant amount of alleged perpetrators were known to the victim (76 per cent) with the rest being catalogued as either “strangers” or, where details were still unclear, “unknown”.
In categories of people known to the victim, current and former partners were the most prominent.
This year, the database includes the deaths of several women from high-profile cases.
Dawn Singleton, Jade Young, Pikria Dachia, Ashlee Good and Yixuan Cheng were murdered in April in a shopping centre attack by a 40-year-old man at Sydney’s Bondi Junction.
He was eventually shot dead by a female police officer.
Five of his six victims were women – the sixth was a security guard, Faraz Ahmed Tahir, who attempted to physically intervene.
Patty Kinnersly, CEO of domestic violence prevention group Our Watch, says that Australia needs to face the “uncomfortable truth” that “sexism and disrespect…provides the foundation upon which violence can become an option.”
“Everyone - from government, to business, to sporting clubs, to individuals - need to be taking action to end violence against women,” she said.
“Men have a crucial role as allies in leading this conversation, to be leading change where they work and to be courageous in calling out their mates when they make comments that are disrespectful of women or minimise violence.”
Anthony Albanese declared violence against women a “national crisis” in April, when the death toll sat at 26.
“We need to change the culture. We need to change attitudes. We need to change the legal system. We need to change the approach by all governments – because it’s not enough to support victims,” he said.
“Because an Australia where women and children are safe, is a better Australia for women, for children and for men.”
If you are experiencing violence or need support, 1800RESPECT is the national domestic violence hotline.
Call: 1800 737 732
Text: 0458 737 732
Originally published as More than 100 women have been killed in Australia in 2024
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