EXTERNALLY FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
eAware women and girls’ online safety: Prevention of tech-facilitated coercive control for women living in regional and rural Victoria
Background
Gippsland Women’s Health (GWH) have been granted funding in the Preventing Tech-Based Abuse of Women Grants Program by the eSafety Commissioner as part of the Australian Government’s eSafety Strategy 2022–2025. The project specifically seeks to keep women living in regional and rural Victoria safe from tech-facilitated coercive control by raising community awareness. In this project, the term “women” is used to recognise the diverse range of individuals who identify as women. This definition encompasses cisgender women, transgender women, and those who are non-binary or gender diverse and align themselves with the “female experience”.
Aim
In partnership with Women’s Health Loddon Mallee, Women’s Health Goulburn North East, Women’s Health Grampians, Women’s Health in the South East, and Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West, GWH aims to prevent tech-based coercive control of women living in regional and rural Victoria by:
- increasing public awareness about the prevalence and impact of tech-facilitated coercive control for women living in rural and regional Victoria, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women; multicultural women; women living with a disability; and the LGBTIQA+ community
- developing and promoting access to initiatives and resources to improve women’s online safety, with a specific focus on rurality and regionality
- challenging and shifting prevailing social norms that contribute to tech-facilitated coercive control
- promoting positive and respectful behaviour and accountability in men and boys that perpetrate or may perpetrate tech-facilitated coercive control.
Methods
This project aims to engage women living in regional and rural Victoria along with family violence support service providers, carers, allies and advocates in the co-design of a community-focused violence prevention program. It will be facilitated through consultation, workshops and subject matter experts to develop an awareness campaign; digital resources to keep women safe online; and a prevention training model that addresses the drivers of tech-facilitated coercive control and improves women’s safety by bridging skills gaps that may have been caused by tech-facilitated coercive control.