There is no single ‘cause’ of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, however, research and consultation points to three main underlying drivers that intersect to produce such high levels of this violence.
Research shows that colonisation sets the social context for this violence, with the three intersecting drivers being:
- ongoing impacts of colonisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities
- ongoing impacts of colonisation for non-Indigenous people and society
- gendered factors.
Violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women must be considered in the context of broader colonial violence and the ongoing impacts and violence stemming from colonisation.
This includes racial discrimination, the intergenerational impacts of dispossession, the forced removal of children, the interruption of cultural practices that mitigate against interpersonal violence and the ongoing and cumulative economic exclusion experienced by Indigenous communities across Australia.
It is important to note that non-Indigenous Australians are also impacted by and benefit from the ongoing impacts of colonisation in regard to their access to power, privilege, resources and the condoning of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Gender inequality intersects in complex ways with the ongoing legacy of colonisation, racism and intergenerational trauma— a legacy that affects both Indigenous women and men.