Look out for the women in your life this International Women’s Day

Shine Education and Training, the training arm of Shine, is calling for people to look out for the women in their lives who need support as part of this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations.

Shine Senior Family Violence Educator Mira Taitz says while huge strides have been made in women’s rights, it needs to be recognised that in the area of family violence, there is still so much work to do.

She says violence against women and girls is widespread in New Zealand. One-third of New Zealand women experience physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetimes. The rates are even higher for wāhine Māori, Pacific women, disabled women, and the rainbow community. When psychological or emotional abuse is included, over half of all New Zealand women have experienced intimate partner violence.

“This International Women’s Day, we’re asking people to look out for the women in their lives and encourage them to reach out for support if they need to because a common and very dangerous form of family violence, coercive control, can be hiding in plain sight. It can impact any woman, but it can be hard for others to spot because it is a pattern of behaviours targeted at the individual that escalate over time,” she says.

“Coercive control impacts women in every postcode in Aotearoa and is an issue that causes huge harm to women’s freedom, autonomy, rights and safety. Women lose their lives to it every year,” says Mira Taitz.

Coercive control can take many different forms:

·       It could be someone in a top corporate job who is only allowed to wear certain clothes

·       or whose pay is taken and controlled by her partner

·       or is not allowed to practise her religion

·       someone whose partner removes her wheelchair, hearing aids or medication

·       or is living in fear that her partner will share her intimate photos far and wide

·       or living in fear that her partner will harm the kids if she doesn’t do what he says

·       or whose partner is taking away  her gender-affirming medication.

“Coercive control often begins subtly and, over time, becomes more obvious, as someone’s control of decisions that define them as an individual is removed from them through put-downs, criticism, intimidation, constant monitoring and surveillance or threats of physical violence,” says Mira Taitz.

“It undermines their confidence and their identity, and their autonomy.”

We all can do something about it this International Women’s Day.

If someone you know is experiencing this form of family violence, please support them to reach out for help by calling the Shine helpline on 0508 744 633 or visiting 2shine.org.nz and using the confidential webchat.

To find out more about coercive control, see our blog or follow us on facebook.