At the end of last year, we at Mamamia wrote an article remembering the 61 women killed by violence in 2019.
“As December draws to a close and we open presents, spend time with our families, enjoy days at the beach and set resolutions, a whole new group of innocent women are about to start the last year of their lives,” we wrote.
We hoped we were wrong. But we weren’t.
Seven weeks into 2020, we’ve already lost seven women.
WATCH: Women and violence: The hidden truth. Post continues after video.
That horrific statistic – one woman killed every week at the hands of a current or former partner – is so far playing out as we were told it would.
We’ve lost an unnamed 50-year-old woman from Brisbane’s north.
She was rescued from a house fire on Wednesday and resuscitated by paramedics, but died in hospital on Sunday morning from her injuries.
A man – who had already been charged with attempted murder and arson – had his charges upgraded to murder today.
Police have confirmed the tragedy as domestic violence-related.
On February 4, a woman in her 40s was found dead with stab wounds in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs.
She was stabbed inside her Seaford house and ran onto the footpath crying for help.
The Age reports that three young children witnessed the stabbing, and a man, alleged to be her ex-partner, was arrested at the scene. He has since been charged with one count of murder.
On January 29, a 16-year-old boy was arrested and charged with murder after he fatally stabbed his stepmother in Sydney’s south.
The 42-year-old was found with multiple stab wounds to her back at a Woolooware home at 1.30am. She was taken to hospital critically injured and later died from her injuries.
The day before on January 28, a Melbourne mother was murdered while she was on a Skype call with family.
Former yoga teacher Maud Steenbeek, 61, was in her home when her neighbour allegedly snuck through a back window just before 8pm.
9News reports moments later, a woman’s voice was heard screaming “leave me alone”.
Her son found her lifeless body.
"You were the most wonderful, strong, independent, loving mother and woman we ever had the privilege of knowing. We are truly empty without your presence but your strength and spirit will keep us all united and together forever," wrote her children in a statement, as reported by 7News.
On January 19, a woman was fatally wounded by a 25-year-old man, who Perth Now reports she was in an arranged marriage with.
He turned up to the local police station at about lunchtime that day covered in blood and was arrested and charged with murder.
Ten days earlier, the body of Christine Neilan was found in bushland near Lightning Ridge in outback New South Wales.
The 39-year-old had been out walking her dog when she went missing. Her body was found with serious head injuries.
"Mum is a loving, beautiful, caring person that would never even hurt a fly. We just want justice. We want somebody to come forward," Christine's 22-year-old daughter Julianne told the ABC.
The body of Kimberley McRae was found in her Coogee unit in Sydney's eastern suburbs on January 14, a week after she was last seen.
The 69-year-old was a transgender sex worker and had lived on that street for more than 12 years.
"She was certainly an icon of Coogee for over a decade. She was 'out there' but she's the kindest person I've known," a friend told Daily Mail.
Unlike the names Aiia Maasarwe, or Eurydice Dixon, the names of these seven women aren't imprinted in our brains.
We've barely heard about their deaths, and yet they too were murdered.
The same outpouring of grief hasn't been felt, despite their families feeling the same depths of grief.
Aiia and Eurydice were both young women killed by strangers in very public places. You are not meant to be killed by a stranger in a public park. It's shocking and horrific and terrifying, and something that we fear will happen to ourselves.
But when you die at the hands of a current or former partner, the conversation changes from being an act of "violence" to being one of "domestic violence."
That one little word 'domestic' changes things. Even though it shouldn't.
We don't know who killed Kimberley McRae or Christine Neilan yet, they were possibly murdered by strangers as well.
As we try to grasp at the reasons as to why their stories haven't hit the front pages, the unpalatable truth is Kim's profession in the sex industry and Christine's nationality - a proud Indigenous woman - most likely are part of the reason.
We simply can't let these seven women and their stories slip from headlines.
We can't let the deaths of women at the hands of violence - no matter how they died - be met with any less outrage than those killed by strangers.
We owe it to these seven women to remember their lives.
Mamamia acknowledges the important work of the Counting Dead Women Australia researchers at Destroy The Joint who are committed to the reporting of violence against women in Australia.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000. For more information about a service in your state or local area download the DAISY App in the App Store or Google Play.
Feature Image: Facebook/NSW Police/Destroy The Joint.
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Top Comments
What can you do about male violence? Well, first of all never under any circumstances whatabout derail or minimise.
As you know, doing this forces decent people to waste time and energy on redirecting your attempts at deflection.
It's also repugnantly disrespectful to victims and people who DO care and it is entirely possible to care about one set of problems and still care about others too. Try it - there you go, easy isn't it?
Never complain about the language used. If people are being murdered you should also be angry and upset. Unless you don't see women as human of course. Instead of trying to tone police correctly upset people, join in. Speak your distress about the horror of this subject, it is a subject you SHOULD be upset about. Not being so is an aberration widely encouraged by violent men, if you are not upset about women being slaughtered there's something wrong with you, not the language.
We are social chimps. It absolutely does matter what others say about this subject. When a repulsive behaviour is widely winked at - such as the global pandemic of men slaughtering women - nothing changes. Remember smoking? How addicts insisted they would continue to smoke everywhere at all times and change was not possible? Planes, restaurants, hospitals, malls. It was everywhere. Within a decade that had changed. Remember when women were repeatedly told they'd never get the vote? That was just the way it had always been. Last time I looked that had changed too.
The reason violent men want to derail, minimise, whatabout and so on has many branches, but one reason is to normalise the murder of women by men. Don't let them do that. Another reason is genuine hatred for women. Some men actually like reading articles like this about women being slaughtered. If that's not you, be aware you sound like one of them when you derail.
And some of you haven't thought about it, haven't reframed it to realise that half the human race is frightened of the other half, pretty much continuously, in all walks of life. Yes, that is factual. No, it is not an exaggeration. Some weaker men or men who other men perceive as unmasculine might have an inkling of what I mean when I say that women in every society and country consciously and unconsciously shape their world to avoid male violence.
If you think the rates of violent men cannot be changed you are saying men are monsters. I know that's not true.
We see higher rates of violence in men in some countries than in other. The only difference is that sometimes men make some effort to curb other men. In some countries sometimes more men consider women to be human. And sometimes they do not.
So - what can you do?
Speak up. Agree with these articles, speak your distress at the horrors of male violence, show you actually care. As proven, social pressure absolutely does change behaviour. Every time you see an article like this speak your distress and outrage about other violent men. Show women you are not part of the problem.
Never "notallmen". As you know, men doesn't mean all men. If you're not a violent murderer or rapist, no need to get upset on behalf of them. When you see an article saying "scientists seek a cure for cancer" you don't jump in and say NOT ALL SCIENTISTS THO. So stop notallmenning. Your hurt feelings don't trump women's fear based reality.
Ask your politicians about their policies on men murdering, raping and abusing women. Don't vote for anyone who minimises, notallmens or whatabouts.
Write letters to editors, politicians, comments. State that male violence should be treated seriously. Find out who your local magistrates are and if they are letting men off lightly and write to them. Find out who their upline is and write to them too. Keep writing, all the way to the top. Keep speaking, keep being heard.
IF IT IS SAFE TO DO SO, speak up when you see men perpetrating violent behaviour towards women, whether verbal or otherwise.
Go to Make The Link and read up on how murder, rape and abuse starts with the attitude many men - on this site too - show towards women. Boys will be respectful, responsible and accountable. It starts with sexism and ends, all too often, in rape and murder. This is a fact.
Read. Educate yourself. Go to Feminist Current and read about male violence. Ask the owner of that site in good faith for links to articles and she will take the time to supply them, or other commenters will.
Stop denying the reality, stop worrying about your hurt feelings. Start worrying about murdered women.
Show you are a good person who sees the other half of the human race as human. If you can't manage that, at least shut up and stop helping to minimise and perpetuate male violence.
Just want to check. You have mentioned throughout the article that it relates to partner and ex-partner violence and killings, yet you have mentioned a 16 year old killed his stepmother.
Are we to take from the context of the article, that the 16 year old was the partner/ex-partner of his stepmother??
If they were not in an intimate relationship then it's not correct to associate it with domestic violence or intimate partner violence. I would then debate that your statistic of 7 women in 7 weeks is misleading and inaccurate reporting.
That’s why this century we now refer to it as family violence. Keep up!
Personally, I found this clunky as well - it starts off being an article about domestic violence from a current or former partner but by the end it's clearly about violence against women by men in general, and I don't think the transition is done very well at all. As much as I agree with the sentiment of the article, I think that's a separate issue from how well written it is. A minor one as well, comparatively speaking, but not one to be dismissed out of hand when clarity of comunication is one of the main aims.