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16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and marks the first day of the 16 Days campaign calling for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.

Nearly 1 in 3 women over 15 years have been subjected to physical and sexual violence by an intimate partner, non-partner or both, at least once in their lifetime.

COVID-19 has exacerbated all risk factors for violence against women, including unemployment and poverty, and reinforced gender stereotypes and harmful social norms.

It’s estimated that 11 million girls will not return to school because of COVID-19, increasing their risk of child marriage. The economic fallout is expected to to push 47 million more women and girls into extreme poverty.

Age offers no protection against violence towards women. Women over 60 experience violence at similar rates to younger women.

(Source:UN Women)

Actions you can take:

  • Ask your MP for more social and affordable housing, so women escaping DV have a safe place to live. In our country, nearly 8,000 women return to an abusive partner and 9,000 experience homelessness after leaving their partner (read more here)
  • Demand greater gender equality and more female representation in government.
  • Prevention efforts should address gender norms, root causes and risk factors of violence against women. Prevention initiatives can include dedicated curricula in education systems, economic support for women and households, and awareness and messaging campaigns to influence and change social norms through media.
  • According to the UN, only 1 out of 10 women survivors of violence seek help from the police, globally. Many withdraw from the justice process due to poor responses from police or other judicial actors.

For more information about 16 Days, visit UNWomen.org.

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Home at Last report launched today

Today, the Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum launched the  report Home at Last: Solutions to End Homelessness for Older People  in NSW. The report highlights the growing number of older people experiencing homelessness and offers solutions to this crisis:

  • Establish a service similar to Home at Last in Victoria, a specialist older person’s housing information and support service
  • Lower the priority age for social housing eligibility from 80 years as a matter of urgency
  • Build 5,000 social and affordable homes per year for 10 years, ring fencing 20% for older people.

Many women spoke about their personal experiences of homelessness, recounting the shame and the devastating effect it had on their lives.

Guest speakers at the launch included Glen-Marie Frost, Alex Greenwich MP, the Hon. Rose Jackson MLC and Jenny Leong MP.

Download the report here: Home At Last

The UNSEEN project was the back drop for the launch, a multimedia work sharing the hidden experiences of women’s homelessness and housing insecurity.

The Mercy Foundation is on the steering committee for the Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum, with CHIA NSW, COTA, HAAG (Housing for the Aged Action Group), Mission Australia, OWN NSW, Uniting, WEL and  Women’s Housing Company

Sharing the learning from Wongee Mia

Last month we hosted a conversation with the Wongee Mia team. Wongee Mia is an award winning program that delivers innovative and effective services to Aboriginal people who are experiencing intergenerational poverty and homelessness.

We were joined by Uncle Herbert Bropho who discussed the positive impact the service has made on his extended family. The name “Wongee Mia’ was gifted by his family to the service, an honour that acknowledges his mother who was a great advocate for strengthening family ties and providing shelter and homes for her family.

The key to the success of the project was involving Elders in all aspects of the program.

Information sheets are available here:

Older women, rising property values and homelessness

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald reported on the median house/unit prices to annual earnings ration. In Sydney, in 1981, it took 5 times the average full time earnings to buy a home (average $78,900). In 2021, it takes 14 times the average earnings to buy a home, average $1.311million. The statistics are from a new report, The Fading Australian Dream. Not only are house prices increasing, rental prices increase too. There is currently a shortage rental properties attributed to the number of landlords selling their rentals to capitalise on the increased property value.

It is tragic and shameful that older women who have experienced a life  shock such as divorce, legal problems or illness, are now facing homelessness.

The Home at Last service by Housing for the Aged Action Group in Victoria offers one-on-one support to older people at risk of a housing crisis or homelessness. We are working with Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum to advocate for a similar service in NSW.

Mercy Global Action calls for urgent action at COP26

By Angela Reed PhD RSM, Mercy Global Action

This COP must deliver concrete actions, not empty promises. The time is now. Leaders must maximize coming together in person at COP26, the first time in two years, to finalize the rulebook of the Paris Agreement, raise their collective ambition to reduce emissions, address loss and damage, and center those most affected in all decisions and discussions.

This is the call for all of us globally, to let go of any illusion that we as human beings are separate from the planet and to respond with moral integrity to the degradation of earth and displacement of persons, recognizing that we are one with the earth community.

In our reflection on the issues of climate and water, it is evident that we are extracting and using Earth and its common goods as if they are infinite. Pope Francis states in Laudato Si’ that we are “faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.” (#139) Addressing climate change is the greatest moral imperative of our time. Climate justice and social justice must be realized.

To halt extreme weather and mitigate the negative impact of climate change on the future sustainability of this planet and on the entire community of life, governments must acknowledge and address the root causes and systems underpinning climate change. Market- based remedies that promote false solutions to climate change, including the commodification of nature, must give way to sustainable and just solutions for both peoples and Earth. Overconsumption and production and the extractivist economy must cease.

We oppose: neoliberal capitalism, patriarchal structures that oppress women, racism, colonialism, unlimited extractivism in the service of an unsustainable form of production and consumption, anthropocentrism, increasing industrialization, and unsustainable development and agricultural methods.

These systemic failings and injustices have directly caused:

  • An increase in market based consumption and production focused on the market instead of life: eg plastics
  • The commercialization and privatization of water, poor water governance, water pollution and shut-offs which hinders access to fresh water
  • Marginalized racial, indigenous and ethnic groups to be disproportionately impacted by toxic dumping, deforestation, landfills and polluting industries
  • Extraction of common goods, such as oil and gas drilling, hydroelectric dams, transnational corporate agriculture, mineral and coal mining
  • Poor health and failed livelihoods
  • Drought and desertification
  • Food deprivation and shortages
  • Gender inequality
  • Loss of, and damage to biodiversity
  • Rising sea levels that are forcing communities in coastal areas and small island nations to plan for relocation
  • An increase in carbon dioxide causing more extreme weather events, leaving wildlife, agriculture, water supplies, forests and ecosystems vulnerable

These grim realities violate the most basic human rights and dignity of the marginalized and land rights. They strip vulnerable communities of development opportunities for good living and escalate desertification, fresh water depletion, biodiversity loss, and extreme weather.

Members and partners of the Mercy World live and minister in forty countries working closely with those who are excluded and or rendered poor. The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated the deep level of systemic change needed to bring forth transformation in our communities. We urge world leaders and governments to place at the center and core of the climate negotiations the necessary and urgent global transformation that can safeguard the wellbeing and sustainability of the community of life.

The Mercy Global Action Task Force on Climate and Water stands for :

  • The Rights of Earth and People
  • The Protection of Earth for the sustenance of spiritual and cultural wellbeing of the communities
  • An Economics centered on well-being and good-living
  • Flourishing for all life
  • Inclusivity
  • Anti-Racism and non-violence
  • Respect
  • Equity
  • Integral ecology recognizing that “Everything is interconnected” (LS #240)
  • Diversity
  • Community involvement and participation in decision-making processes
  • The Rights of women and girls who have a strong and distinct physical and spiritual relationship with the environment and have traditionally been tasked with caring for it
  • Opposition to the extraction and commodification of common goods
  • A paradigm shift. Affirming CIDSE in its call for “a different system as a whole. This requires new narratives, a different cultural approach – putting sufficiency at its heart – and of course, transforming our political and economic systems – away from the destructive growth imperative that lies at the heart of the current system.”

COP 26 presents an opportunity to move forward with an economic transformation. Governments have the opportunity to start a just transition and put in place a new economic system that serves the Earth community. To shape an environmentally resilient and just future, we must include the voices of those most vulnerable.

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an unique opportunity to use the economic revitalization effort to build environmental protections into the “new normal” that will emerge after the pandemic. All efforts to recover economically and socially after COVID-19 must include an intergenerational and “ambitious, measurable and inclusive framework because keeping nature rich, diverse and flourishing is part and parcel of our life’s support system.” (Hope In A Time of Pandemic) We can no longer afford to miss any opportunities to protect the health and stability of Earth.

As we approach COP 26 in November, Mercy Global Action continues to support and urge nations to significantly boost climate ambition in line with the Paris Agreement.

Climate actions undertaken by governments around the world must:

  •  Reject false solutions that displace real solutions to climate justice and agree on a robust, fair and cohesive set of implementation guidelines to solidify the Paris agreement and a roadmap to finalize outstanding issues that contain solutions that are human rights-based and gender-just;
  • Address the urgency and deliver on the ambition to answer to the 1.5°C target within the Paris Agreement and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, enhancing their Nationally Determined Contributions (climate plans for GreenHouse Gas emissions reductions) by 2021 in line with climate science;
  • Actualize climate finance commitments, agree to robust accounting standards and concrete ways to enhance predictability of funds from the higher income to lower income countries. Recognize that the climate emergency is fuelling the accumulation of debt in lower income countries.( Mercy Global Action has signed onto No Climate Justice without Debt Justice)
  •  Incorporate local and indigenous knowledge, in particular the expertise of women and girls, taking into account their human rights, responsibilities, and ensuring conservation benefits are just and inclusive;
  • Ensure that young people, particularly girls and young women, are meaningfully included in the development, review, implementation and monitoring of all climate policies;
  • Encourage ecosystem-based approaches and systems to aid waste reduction, address loss and damage of biodiversity, sea level rise, and promote sustainable consumption and production;
  • Support efforts, including finance, technology and capacity-building, in order to avert, minimize and address displacement related to the adverse impacts of climate change, at all levels, namely the community, national, regional and international levels;
  • Place people over profit. We oppose misuse of resources that damage the environment, including large scale extraction, deforestation and exploitation of the land and its people. We support the work of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights who work towards holding corporations accountable for their human rights abuses under international law.
  • Recognize the human right to water and address unjust systems that limit access to, the protection of, and preservation of sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water and sanitation which enable people to maintain their dignity and well-being. Prevent the commodification and privatization of water, increase public financing for water and sanitation services and empower local communities to protect watersheds (SDG 6 and 12). We promote “Water and Sanitation”: A People’s Guide to SDG 6 a rights-based approach to implementation” as a strong advocacy tool to achieve the Human Right to Water and Sanitation in our communities, nations, and world.

Eight years a slave

Most people think that slavery doesn’t happen in our country. Unfortunately that is a myth. This article in The Australian documents the inhumane treatment of a woman kept as a slave for 8 years. The woman did not speak English, had her passport taken by the perpetrators, was unable to leave the premises and threatened physically and mentally. The prosecution argued that the couple had total control of all aspects of the woman’s life that created the condition of slavery.

The neighbours had no idea of the woman’s circumstances. Read the article here.

A Place to Call Home

The latest report from JRS, called A Place to Call Home, reveals high levels of homelessness and financial hardship experienced by people seeking asylum.

The Mercy Foundation provided funding for the research through our Grants to End Homelessness program.

The survey asked people seeking asylum about their housing and homelessness experiences since arriving in Australia and also about their income, employment, and the impact of COVID-19 restrictions of March 2020. The survey was conducted in March 2021, and findings reflect experiences at that time and in the preceding 12 months.

The results are grim, showing high rates of homelessness (55%), the difficulties faced by people with work rights  in finding employment, extreme financial hardship resulting in severe stress, running out of money to buy food, overcrowded dwellings and evictions despite the moratorium.

The results of the survey underscore the urgent need for Federal Government support to ensure that men, women and children seeking protection in Australia do not continue to experience the dire effects of deprivation and poverty.

The report can be read here.

Congratulations to YWCA Canberra

We congratulate YWCA Canberra for their plan to build safe and fit-for-purpose housing solutions for women in the ACT by utilising this land which they have owned for decades.

YWCA Canberra has announced that they will be building a supported housing development in Ainslie, Canberra, to provide ten supported housing units to cater for women aded 55+ and women with children who may have experienced domestic and family violence and are living on modest incomes.

This project fills a gap in the ACT housing market as there are no other purpose-built, independent, affordable rental properties in the ACT specifically designed for women. The development is expected to be completed by 2023.

Read more here.

 

 

Final report: Inquiry into homelessness in Australia

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs released their Final Report for the Inquiry into Homelessness in Australia. The report can be downloaded from this page.

The report makes 35 recommendations, including that the Australian Government, in consultation with state, territory and local governments, develop a 10 year national strategy on homelessness.

We were pleased to see that recommendation 25 recommends that the Australian Government establish a comprehensive strategy to address the financial insecurity of older women, including:

  • measures relating to superannuation and income support with a view to improving financial outcomes for women; and
  • the need for new data collection and reporting measures, including new national data sets, to inform polices and strategies targeted at older women.

The report fell short of calling for an urgent and significant investment in social housing, which is desperately  needed to meet the current demand and end homelessness for many families and individuals who just need an affordable, appropriate and permanent place to live.

Other recommendations in the report include:

  •  data collection for better policy development across a number of areas
  • a review of Commonwealth Rental Assistance,
  • funding emergency accommodation for perpetrators of such violence, to prevent victim-survivors from having to leave their homes,

The report recommends that the Australian Government work with state and territory governments to:

  •  ensure the availability of social housing and transitional, crisis and emergency accommodationfor people with diverse needs, such as older people, people living with disability, people from CALD backgrounds and Indigenous Australians.
  • implement strategies to address the risk of exiting into homelessness from state institutions, including hospitals, mental health facilities, correctional institutions and out-of-home-care, including developing a nationally consistent approach to discharge planning and a national definition of ‘no exit into homelessness’
  • measures to encourage social housing providers to accept tenants with high needs and provide adequate support to minimise re-entry of high needs tenants into homelessness
  • expand circumstances for people on bridging visas to access social and emergency housing and homelessness services
  • develop a more integrated ‘place-based’ approach to homelessness prevention and early intervention
  • incorporate the principles of Housing First particularly for priority groups
  • ensure the appropriate allocation of social and affordable housing stock to meet the needs of individuals and families at different life stages and accommodate different household family structures;
    • eg amending local government restrictions on secondary dwellings (‘granny flats’); and
    • new measures to encourage the use of secondary dwellings to free up primary dwellings for larger families

Recommendation 31 seeks to increase the supply of affordable housing when land is rezoned for residential development, through the introduction and harmonisation of inclusionary planning approaches across Australia and recommendation 32 encourages further private-sector investment in social and affordable housing, including superannuation funds, via NHFIC.