How many women can you name that have been murdered in 2018?
One? Two? Four? 31 women have been murdered this year, and most would struggle to name more than one, that of Eurydice Dixon, a talented young woman murdered last week.
Ms Dixon was murdered as she walked from a gig, shortly after texting her friend that she was safe, and almost home.
Her body would be located by members of the public, and the police would warn women to have “situational awareness”, to take care, be aware of their surroundings.
Ms Dixon’s death, and this messaging from police, have created an outrage in the community – and rightly so. The public is furious that women are being told, yet again, that we can somehow stop our attacks, and that we can somehow keep ourselves safer.
Whilst the community outrage grows, Ms Dixon’s friends and acquaintances remember Ms Dixon as a loved woman, a talented woman, a woman who had so much to live for, so much time. And she should have.
As should have the other women murdered in 2018.
There’s a certain sense of whataboutery that’s about to come here. And it feels tacky to write it. Like the men who come to articles and posts discussing violence against women and cry “what about the men!” But Ms Dixon was the 31st woman murdered this year, and there’s not been nearly this much outrage about the other 30 women. This could be for many reasons – like the death of Jill Meagher in 2012, women relate easily to Ms Dixon. She was walking home after a gig, like so many of us have done. She texted a friend to say she was safe, like so many of us do. And yet her life was taken, in a way that many of us fear.
For some reason, the other victims did not elicit such empathy, such awareness, such outrage.
Some of them barely rated a few lines of a news article, with barely a follow up if someone was charged. Some, a few tweets, a few “let’s stop this”. The victims of domestic violence garner more outrage, more coverage, more social media inches. But they don’t elicit the same outrage, the same curiosity.
Sally Roethe was murdered in February this year, and it would be some time before police would locate her alleged killer. There was media coverage, but mostly surrounding the man hunt, and not Ms Roethe. We know barely anything about her life, and most would not even know her name.
Le Ngoc Le was murdered in Melbourne's north west when out walking her dogs. Who was Ms Le? We know her age, and precious little else about her.
Due to the horror of the murders in Margaret River, we heard about Katrina and Cynda Miles.
But who are Marija Karovska, Debbie Combarngo, Noura Khatib, Katie Haley, Margaret Indich, Antonia Tatchell, Amelia Blake, Nancy Barclay, Mary Freeman, Radmila Stevanovic, Marija Karovska, Simone Fraser, Teah Rose Luckwell, Kay Shirley Dix, Ros Thomson, Cecelia Haddad, Ingrid Enalanga, Karen Ashcroft, Caroline Willis, Gail Winner, Qi Yu, and the many women who cannot be named?
These are all "someone's mother, sister, daughter", they're all someone. They're all someones who are deserving of vigils, of outrage, of horror at their deaths.
And we need to start talking about this – about them all. Because we have had 31 women killed in 24 weeks of 2018, and nothing is changing. Men are suspected in over 90 percent of these murders, and we are not having conversations with men on how to stop violence. These women are someone's mother, sister, daughter – and their murderers are someone's father, brother, sons – in many cases, it's their own.
Telling women to have situational awareness, telling us to keep ourselves safe isn't working – we are already doing everything we can.
So imagine if we had this outrage, this action, this condemnation every time a woman was murdered. Imagine if we mobilized every time. Yes, it would be exhausting. As someone who tracks the deaths of women in Australia, I can tell you it is exhausting. But maybe this is how we bring about change. Maybe this is how we bring about the discussions we need to have. Maybe this is how we keep women safe.
Ms Dixon’s life was important. It is important. Her death should not be for nothing. And nor should any of the other 30 women who have been murdered in 2018.
Top Comments
31 women murdered is 31 too many. 60+ men murdered over the same time is also 60+ too many. Yet not 1 word on this inequitable murder rate in this article. Why?
There are many conversations being had about men atm (not some, but all men apparently) needing tb reminded that it is not OK to rape and murder women.
This is so very demeaning to the vast majority of men who of course know and don't do these things.
29 men did these horrible crimes out if millions of men in Australia. I bet they too knew not to do what they did.. but they still did it. This is what we should be discussing.
BTW we don't need to have a discussion with our Sons not to rape and murder women. We simply tell and show our Sons how to respect women. Period. No other discussion is required.
1 problem is not many men remain around single parent families to act as the role model.. a discussion for another day.
If men are the solution (they are) then stop demonising men. Shouting at men. Patronising men. Putting men down. Berating and belittling men. Men will stop listening, exactly the same as if women were treated this way by men.
Treat men equally, as women also want and men will listen.
It's men who are doing the shouting, patronising, putting down, berating and belittling- and raping and murdering. We are just asking you to stop and listen to us, to have empathy for our position and stop with the #notallmen comments. Why are we not talking about the 60+ men murdered - because they were 98% murdered by other men. Men's violence is the problem and until men stop treating women like 2nd class citizens, then yes we might need to tell our sons not to murder and rape women, because clearly they are not being taught what respect actually means.
To me the whole conversation reminds me of helping the issues in our Aboriginal communities.
*Most of the problems go with minimal reporting.
*One hits the news and causes outrage (why that one over others is a mystery).
*Lots of talk and outrage.
*Demands more money be spent.
*Lots of finger pointing
*Insults at those trying to help because they disagree with others ideas on what needs to be done.
*Some will downplay the issue and/or outright say there isn't one.
*Those trying to understand the reasoning of the issue will be drowned out by screams of those demanding action.
*People will slowly put down their torch and pitchforks after achieving nothing until the next outrage article.
Rather than outrage, calls of victim blaming, telling men to stop being rapists and every other unhelpful thing we need to understand the issue before we can deal with it.
*Most men aren't rapists or murderers.
*Most men don't understand these pricks anymore than women.
*More men would stop a rape/murder than enact one.
Calls for men to do more is pointless as most would if we could. If we are serious about tackling this issue we need well thought out solutions not knee jerk reactions.
We know most men aren't. But this is a problem that men need to deal with, because it is almost always men murdering and raping, this is a gender issue. Men can help, by challenging their friends when they make sexist remarks or rape jokes. By treating women as people, not objects to be ogled. By not blaming them for rape and murder for doing something as simple as walking home after a performance. By supporting safe spaces for women, by supporting domestic violence efforts to help women. By raising their sons to respect women, to see them as people and by not setting bad example, such as making sexist jokes, calling them girls when they aren't as strong as you would like and allowing them to play with "girl" toys and not make a big deal out of it. These are all ways that men can help fix what its wrong and it starts with their own attitudes.
How many of these things happened to the person charged with this crime? DO we know? Were they derided for being a girl when not strong? Were they taught to treat women with respect? Did they grow up around sexist remarks because the scary part about this is that a lot of people that commit these crimes grow up in normal homes and aren't subject to the above.
While I agree with your desires, it is more a wish list for change than a solution to the problem.