Taking action to help end gender-based violence
Champions of Change Coalition is prioritising action to help end gender-based violence. Domestic, family, and sexual violence devastates the lives of millions of people, with women disproportionately bearing the impact on their safety, well-being, and financial independence.
Since 2015, we have been at the forefront of addressing domestic and family violence as a critical workplace issue.
Survivor advocates tell us that workplaces are uniquely positioned to help lead societal change on this issue. When organisations take a stand, it sends powerful messages: that we care for those impacted by gender-based violence; that there must be accountability for those who use violence; and that everyone can and should play a role in eliminating gender-based violence.
Through our Playing Our Part initiative, we have developed and implemented comprehensive frameworks which seek to prevent and respond to domestic and family violence from a workplace perspective, and to extend our impact to our Members’ clients, customers, suppliers, and communities.
Champions of Change have been stepping up our efforts to prevent the weaponisation of products and services in cases of domestic and family violence. Whether in banking, insurance, energy, telecommunication or other essential services, we know that perpetrators misuse products and services to exert control and create further harm to victim-survivors.
We are taking action to prevent the misuse of our products and services to perpetrate domestic and family violence by pursuing the following actions across the Coalition:
- Helping prevent the misuse of products and services: We will, with our Members, work to help prevent the weaponisation of relevant products and services by those who use domestic and family violence by making our stance clear, adopting practices designed to safeguard victim-survivors (including their confidentiality and safety), and holding perpetrators accountable.
- Embedding gender equal and inclusive design: We will work with our Members to consider safety by design principles in the development of new products and services to minimise their exploitation to harm others, informed, where relevant, by experts and survivor-advocates. The Coalition’s “7 Switches Framework” provides direction on how women’s empowerment, independence and safety can be integrated into decisions and design processes from the outset.
- Collaborating for broader impact: We will, with our Members, lead and collaborate within our industries, and work with industry bodies to support legislative reform, promote safety in products and services, and share our efforts to encourage collective action.
- Advocating for global change: The Coalition will share insights and progress internationally to promote the global adoption of protective practices. The Coalition’s goal is to build a community of practice that elevates the issue of product and service safety in the context of domestic and family violence to the international stage, engaging with UN agencies and other global organisations to share what we have learned with others around the globe.
- Reporting our progress: The Coalition will share the actions we take and progress made in preventing the misuse of products and services in the context of domestic and family violence so others can learn from this work.
Together, we reaffirm our commitment to playing our part to help prevent and respond to domestic and family violence, and to create a safer, more gender equal and inclusive world for all.
We sincerely thank our Members who are leading these efforts and sharing their insights and expertise across the Coalition to help accelerate change.
Champions of Change Coalition
Further Information:
On 13 September 2024, the Champions of Change Coalition convened a roundtable discussion with experts and Members from the banking, insurance, energy and telecommunications sectors to discuss the prevention of, and response to, the misuse and weaponisation of products and services by people who use domestic and family violence. Members shared current actions they are taking to prevent and respond, and their commitment to acting individually and collectively on this issue. Further information on the misuse of products and services can be found here:
About the Champions of Change Coalition:
The Champions of Change Coalition includes CEOs, Secretaries of Government Departments, Non-Executive Directors, and community leaders who believe gender equality is a major business, economic, societal, and human rights issue. The Champions of Change Coalition is a globally recognised, innovative strategy for achieving gender equality, advancing more and diverse women in leadership, and building respectful and inclusive workplaces. Established in 2010 by Elizabeth Broderick AO, our mission is to achieve inclusive gender equality across workplaces by 2030 and a significant and sustainable increase in the representation of women in leadership.
Media Enquiries:
Please contact media@championsofchangecoalition.org