Criminology Research Council grant ; (10/87)
This project has been an attempt to explore the nature of prolonged domestic violence in a country town of New South Wales, Australia. Its focus has been primarily on the police response but also addresses the particular difficulties confronting women living in rural areas, whether in town or on remote properties.
In Australia domestic violence in country areas has received very little attention to date. Yet according to a recent report by Alison Wallace, The Social Reality of Homicide (1986), there is a disproportionate number of domestic homicides in rural areas indicating that violence here is more violent than in metropolitan areas. Recent studies of domestic violence in metropolitan Australia indicate that it is such factors as the oppression of women generally in society, and the lack of options available to them in employment, higher education and child care, that contribute to protracted stays in abusive relationships. 'Why do women stay?' is one of the least understood questions, yet the most commonly asked. These factors that are known to keep women trapped in this sort of situation are more intense in country regions and may shed some light on why violent relationships here are more likely to culminate in homicide. The report makes a number of proposals for governmental action to deal with this problem.