09/07/2024
Cover art hand drawn by Grace Tame. Posted • 4̶3̶ ̶w̶o̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶1̶6̶7̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶s̶. 4̶7̶ ̶w̶o̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶1̶4̶5̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶s̶. 4̶8̶ ̶w̶o̶m̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶1̶4̶8̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶s̶.̶ The Instyle team has worked on different iterations of this special feature over the past three months, but the story and statistics always quickly became inaccurate. Because each time, the number of Australian women killed in 2024 in an epidemic of gendered violence rose. Today, it stands at 49 women in 190 days, according to . Tomorrow, that number could be different.
Rewind to three months ago and the nation was mobilised following a string of violent attacks against women. We marched and pushed our government to take urgent action on gendered violence. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared it a national crisis and pledged nearly $1 billion in practical measures to stop the scourge.
And then, silence.
Ten weeks since those national rallies, eighteen more lives have been tragically lost; four women killed in 48 hours over the first weekend in June; three women murdered in three days last week, their wrongful deaths buried deep in newspapers and feeds. A fatal stabbing yesterday; an alleged domestic homicide on Saturday.
In a new special feature, with a cover illustrated by former Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, we’re commemorating the women lost to gendered violence and bringing this important issue back to the fore. Because violence against women isn’t a flash-in-the-pan crisis, it’s an epidemic.
