The City of Casey has released its 10-year plan towards gender equality and the prevention of violence against women.
‘Safe and Equal Casey’ outlines the council’s four strategic objectives to foster, support and promote gender equality and reject violence against women.
It comes as the Federal, State and Territory governments this week pledged to end violence against women and children in Australia within “one generation”.
International and Australian research shows violence against women is driven by gender inequality.
The City of Casey has one of the lowest gender equality rankings in Victoria; in 2021, there were 3815 police call outs to reported incidents of violence against women, which is four times higher than the state average.
The council’s strategic plan focuses on community and workplace-based actions, with the first two years of the plan focusing on building foundations and relationships with communities.
Key objectives include aims to ensure council services, programs and policies are gender equitable and inclusive of strategies preventing violence against women.
It also aims to ensure the council works with partners and the community in supporting gender equality, as well as developing and implementing prevention of violence against women initiatives.
The result of this initial work will be prevention initiatives and action plans that are co-designed and led by Casey’s diverse communities and partner organisation, with plans to scale up effective solutions in the later years of the plan.
City of Casey chair of administrators Noelene Duff PSM highlighted the importance of collaboration and partnerships to work towards gender equality and creating an equal and safe community.
“Council is committed to gender equality and ensuring our community lives in a safe and equal society, with equal access to power, resources and opportunities,” Ms Duff said.
“However, addressing gender equality and violence against women is complex and challenging, and transformational change in these complex issues requires long-term commitment and collaboration. So, this plan not only lays out the next 10 years but also aims to foster collaboration and problem-solving with our community.”
To celebrate the launch of the plan, council will be hosting two community events.
A free community event will be held at Bunjil Place from 9.30am to noon on Wednesday 9 November.
Dr Nikki Vincent, Victoria’s first Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner, will be the guest speaker at the event to share her wealth of experience in gender equality and organisational leadership.
As part of the launch, and to recognise the United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, council will also be hosting a free community event to help residents learn about gender-based violence causes, prevention and support.
From 10am to 3pm on Saturday 26 November, residents are invited to join council for a day of learning and self-care with a community-led event.
The event will showcase Casey’s Gender Equality Taskforce, a council-supported group of diverse community members, who will be sharing their lived experiences and advocacy advice. The event will also include a free yoga and self-care session.
