Media Release

Media release from Senator, the Hon Amanda Vanstone, Minister for Justice and Customs

Women's fear of crime

1 December 1999

Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Amanda Vanstone, today released a research paper highlighting the fear of crime amongst women in the community.

"This paper builds on a body of knowledge about fear of crime, which included a major report in 1998 by the Federal Government's National Crime Prevention," Senator Vanstone said.

"The AIC paper, Women's Fear of Violence in the Community, highlights that fear of crime is emerging as a serious social issue, almost as serious as crime itself."

"The fear of crime can have a major impact on individuals and society, because it is as a result of the fear of crime that individuals will change their behaviour by, for example, not participating in the workforce, social or sporting activities."

"This paper highlights that initiatives aimed at improving women's social and economic status, in particular those in disadvantaged groups, can improve their perceptions of personal safety and increase their participation in community life."

"While crime directly affects many Australian women, the fear of crime affects nearly all women."

"The reality is that women are less likely to be victimised than men, however they express greater fear of crime than men do."

"The AIC paper finds that more than 70 per cent of Australian women feel unsafe when walking alone in their area after dark."

"Everybody should be concerned about these results. If women don't go out and participate in community activities because of their fear of crime, we all lose."

"Women's fear of crime is often altruistic. Women are likely to worry that their partner or children will be a victim of violence."

"Women who live with their partner, who are not in the labour force and who have children under 15, are 4.3 times more likely to fear violence than women in the same circumstances who do not have a partner."

"Women not in the labour force are nearly twice as likely to feel unsafe than women who are either working or unemployed and looking for work."

"Perhaps not surprisingly, women who have experienced violence also fear crime more than women who have not been a victim of violence."

The paper, Women's Fear of Violence in the Community, by the Australian Institute of Criminology discusses the results of the 1996 Women's Safety Survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

References

• Download paper: Women's fear of violence in the community