Making domestic and family violence everyone’s business
Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon has dedicated her career to understanding and combating the devastating impact of gendered violence.
Her research has been cited by the High Court of Australia and shaped homicide law and family violence reform across Australia.
Now the former Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre is focusing her attention on a new frontier: the boardroom.
As a new member of Monash Business School’s Corporate Education, Prof Kate Fitz-Gibbon will inform and empower organisations with the knowledge and tools they need to support domestic and family violence victim-survivors and prevent workplace sexual harassment.
“In Australia, we have a National Plan to end Violence against Women and Children, which states the ambitious goal of ending gender-based violence in one generation,” Prof Fitz-Gibbon said.
“But we simply can’t achieve that without every Australian contributing, and corporate leaders have a critical role to play.”
Research reveals disturbing tactics of abusers
Prof Fitz-Gibbon said domestic and family violence has profound impacts on work performance, with victim-survivors more likely to be late, absent, or perceived as unproductive.
Women disproportionately bear the brunt of this gendered issue.
They are three times more likely to experience intimate partner violence - with many facing performance management and reduction in work opportunities as a result of perceived low performance.
Her research has uncovered accounts of some of the horrific coercive and controlling tactics used by abusers to impact the victim-survivor’s ability to engage in paid work.
“Perpetrators often target victim-survivors during work hours with abusive emails, incessant phone calls, or showing up unannounced at the workplace,” she said.
“In a recent study, I interviewed a victim-survivor whose partner would wake her up repetitively throughout the night when she was presenting to the Board the next day. In another interview a victim-survivor recounted how her abusive partner would slash her tyres so she could not physically get to work.”
Victim-survivors at risk of homelessness, poverty
The economic fallout of gender-based violence for victim-survivors is staggering.
In 2020/2021, domestic and family violence-related productivity losses in Australia reached $609 million, with employers shouldering $235 million of the burden.
“Australian research warns us that victim-survivors of domestic and family violence risk homelessness and poverty when they leave an abusive relationship,” Prof Fitz-Gibbon said.
“It is imperative that workplaces develop policies that support victim-survivors to safely remain engaged with work, while also holding perpetrators to account.”
‘Workplaces can step up to support the change’
New legislation, including 10 days national paid domestic and family violence leave and the Respect@Work sexual harassment reforms, is an important step towards better support for victim-survivors.
But Prof Fitz-Gibbon said the protections are only as effective as the workplaces implementing them.
“The policies will only succeed if they are embedded alongside wider policies and practices that support much-needed cultural change, through improved domestic and family violence awareness and whole-of-workforce trauma-informed training,” she said.
“For too long victim-survivors have had to choose between safety and financial survival – this has to stop and Australian workplaces can step up to support the change that is urgently needed.”
Charting a course for cultural change
Prof Fitz-Gibbon is determined to make domestic and family violence support one of the foundations of corporate social responsibility.
Her work with Monash Corporate Education will spearhead efforts to guide organisations through the legislative landscape.
Her aim is to ensure businesses not only comply but create safe and supportive environments through whole-of-workforce training and meaningful policy implementation.
“There is growing consensus that workplaces can play an important role in addressing all forms of domestic, family and sexual violence in Australia,” she said.
“I’m excited by the opportunity to focus my attention on working with businesses across Australia and internationally to create the cultural change needed to support victim-survivors to not only remain in work but to thrive at work.”