24/07/2026
There is a reason systems of oppression last for generations. They don’t survive because only powerful men defend them.
They survive because the rest of us are taught that they are normal.
For women, that lesson starts young.
We are told that talking about violence against women is “playing the victim.” That asking for equal pay is “asking for too much.” That reproductive healthcare is political. That feminism has “gone too far.” That if we just worked harder, stayed quieter, smiled more, chose better, left earlier, drank less, dressed differently… things would be different.
When women repeat those messages, they aren’t necessarily bad people.
They are often repeating a story they have been told their whole lives.
Patriarchy doesn’t only shape men. It shapes women too.
That is why some women will defend politicians who dismiss the evidence about domestic and family violence. They are defending what feels familiar, because challenging the system means questioning beliefs we’ve inherited for generations.
As an organisation that works with refugee women, women seeking asylum, women escaping violence and women rebuilding their lives, we know something else.
Systems of power rely on us arguing with one another instead of asking harder questions.
Why are women still being killed by current or former partners every year?
Why are refuges full?
Why are frontline services overwhelmed?
Why do so many survivors struggle to be believed?
Why are prevention programs always the first to lose funding?
These are political questions because women’s lives are political.
Supporting male survivors and acknowledging the overwhelming evidence about gendered violence are not competing ideas. We can and must do both.
Real change begins when we stop defending systems simply because they are familiar.
It begins when we choose evidence over ideology.
Compassion over culture wars.
And dignity over fear.
Because every woman deserves to live free from violence.
No exceptions.
