Moo Baulch's Story.

MOO BAULCH

Chair, Our Watch
Director of Primary Prevention, WAGEC
Advisor to Next Chapter (financial abuse program), Commonwealth Bank
Former CEO of DV NSW

Q: MOO, YOU HAVE SUCH A RICH HISTORY OF WORKING WITHIN THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUPPORT SPACE. COULD YOU GIVE US A RUNDOWN OF WHERE IT STARTED, TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?

People often ask me, how did you get into this work - are you a trained social worker, did you do a degree in social policy? But my pathway to the work of prevention of gender-based violence was quite accidental.

It found me when I first moved from England to Australia in the mid-90s. I was at the University of Queensland, working in the student union, where I got really involved in the women's rights area and landed a paid job supporting the queer sexuality collective. In Queensland, the first piece of legislation where equal rights were recognised for same-sex couples was in domestic violence legislation in the late 90s – so I was suddenly in a room with people from women's refuges and the women's movement, who had been responding to the crisis for many years. I got involved at the policy level and began working closely with women's services – while thinking through the intricacies of how to support same-sex people  experiencing intimate partner violence.

In the early 2000s I moved to Southeast Asia, and helped set up a foundation that supported local organisations in Indonesia and Thailand working to support women's access to health and education.  Later, I was living in Spain just as the awareness of the scale of gender-based violence began to be recognised – it was around that time that the deaths of women started to be reported on the national evening news. That highly visible national count of dead women continues today – it was recognised as a systemic and widespread problem there many years before we started to have the same conversation here in Australia. During that decade I had the privilege of studying peace while I was in Barcelona, where I met activists from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, the Dominican Republic women, who were on the frontline fighting for women's rights and safety amidst horrific violence and state-perpetrated conflicts.

When I ended up back here in Australia, working at ACON as the Same-Sex Domestic Violence Officer supporting clients and raising community awareness about the issue of intimate partner violence for LGBTIQ people, I remember thinking, wow – look at what has changed over these 15 years. There’s now recognition of this issue – which is the way that policy works, right? You have those challenging conversations and it takes 10 or 15 years for the political and policy change to actually happen. Since then, I've been privileged to work in all sorts of settings, projects and initiatives relating to gendered violence – including being the CEO of Domestic Violence NSW for 6 years, which have allowed me to continue learning and contributing to the development of this work.

It’s one of those things – even when I thought my career was taking a different pathway, violence prevention kept following me. Gendered violence is a global problem, it impacts every country, family, workplace and culture – no matter where you're living or which community you’re a part of.

Q: WHAT KEEPS THE FIRE ROARING FOR YOU? WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED IN THE ADVOCACY AND DV SUPPORT SPACE?

The fact that we know so much now about the size of the problem, what drives the problem – and what actions we need to take at an individual and structural level to fix the issue. It's a bit like the environmental movement. How much more evidence do we need before we agree that this is a serious problem, that we all have a responsibility to challenge? There are concrete things that we can all do to be part of the solution - we can't sit on our hands and pretend it's somebody else's problem, or it's something that happens ‘over there’.

“We're going to have the next generation ask us , 'Hang on, you knew the cause of this. You knew the scale of the issue and what needed to be done to fix it…and you chose not to take real action?'”

I'm part of a generation who believed we were making progress on racial and gender equity 10, 20, 30 years ago – that it was going to be better  for the next generation. But there is a pretty serious backlash now, both locally and globally.

Having children myself continues to drive my motivation – especially having kids who were born as girls, and coming from experiences of my own gender-based violence, in the same way that most women and queer people have had multiple experiences in their lifetimes. But gender equality benefits everyone, not just girls and women. Boys and men also have their choices limited and their dreams squashed when they’re told they shouldn’t do something because of their gender.

At the end of the day, how can you not be driven to keep chipping away at it, in any way that we can, for the greater good of all?

Q: BEING INVOLVED AT A POLICY LEVEL AND ALSO BEING INVOLVED WITH THE PEOPLE EXPERIENCING DV ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS, IS SUCH A POWERFUL JOINT EXPERIENCE. COULD YOU SHARE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR WORK WITH OUR WATCH AND WAGEC, AND WHAT YOU'RE MOST PROUD OF?

I'm most proud of the work of the teams at Our Watch. I still clearly remember the launch of Our Watch – when this new Victoria-based foundation launched the Change the Story framework that pulled together evidence from across the globe, showing that violence against women is serious, it's prevalent and it's driven by gender inequality and the structures and systems that allow abuse and inequality to thrive.

I remember being part of conversations with my peers at the time – leaders of other women's organisations around the country – and just saying, yeah, of course it is. It's a no-brainer. This is what feminist activists, those who have been doing this work for decades, have known for 50 years. But isn't it great that we now have a national framework, and an evidence base, that actually confirms it? It pulls together research and lived expertise from all over the world, condenses it into a document that says this is what the problem is, and this is what we need to do to fix it.

That was almost a decade  ago now, but I remember thinking – this is the next step in preventing violence. Having an organisation that pulls the research together, but also targets those big settings, where we know that the work needs to be done if we're going to see that change. When I was offered the opportunity to be the chair at Our Watch three years ago, I was a bit terrified, to be honest. I knew the organisation was an important part of the first National plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children...and now we have a second National Plan with the ambition to end violence in a generation.

And because I also get into prevention in my day job at WAGEC with communities, private and public sector organisations, I get to use the Our Watch tools every day – I can honestly say that I see the shift in people, when you start sharing some of these fundamentals. It just makes sense to people of all genders, socio-demographics, life experiences and beliefs.

When you talk about things like Change The Story, or how gender stereotypes impact negatively on everybody – boys and men, just as much as girls and women - you watch people make that connection. You see them remember, “oh yeah, that's right – when I was five years old, I was told I couldn't do that  because I was a boy, even though I loved cooking, or sewing, or creative play with the girls”. All of those possibilities that we shut down and stop young children from doing. Kids then learn to police each other – and the gender inequality cycle perpetuates. So the Our Watch resources are a beautiful, powerful thing for people to use. They’re designed for anyone to use – in workplaces, education settings, communities.

That's why the work that my team and I have been doing at WAGEC in the last couple of years with early childhood educators is so exciting – because you really see people connect to it.

“If you support people to feel comfortable and confident to challenge violence against women, of course you're going to get a more accepting, gender equal society. Everybody will feel more welcome and more able to have positive, equal, respectful relationships.”

It’s not rocket science – it’s so simple, really, the concepts we're trying to embed throughout society. We are all equal, and we all deserve equal opportunities to meet our potential, regardless of gender. This is the work that I love doing at WAGEC – the day-to-day, one-on-one conversations that you have with people, or within teams.

But we also need organisations to be taking this on and saying actually, this is a critical issue. Not just from the perspective of preventing homicides, but because it's better for communities, it’s better for business, it's better for teams, it's better for people within their workplace settings, or their sporting associations – any of the places that Australians live, work and play.

Q: WHAT ROLE DOES INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY PLAY IN THE DISCOURSE AROUND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE?

If you look at the way that the 8th of March, and International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November), and some of those other really big, important calendar dates are celebrated here, it’s very different to other parts of the world.

In Australia we’ve embraced IWD with cupcakes, panels and breakfasts – and that stuff is really important. It’s significant that the private and public sectors have embraced the celebration of women and empowerment. But if you look at the way those dates are celebrated in other places, it’s often mass public protests on the streets. And not just women – people of all genders are turning up to march against gendered violence, calling for a more equal world and public safety.

In Europe and South America, IWD means thousands of people from all walks of life taking to the streets. The numbers of women dying are now in the public consciousness and seen as part of a connected global issue. At the same time, we're living in a time where there is a global backlash against equality and we are seeing more women dying, which is deeply awful.

But it’s the tip of the iceberg – it’s not just the horror we see in the headlines, it’s also hundreds of thousands of other women living in fear. And some of them not even realising what it is that they're experiencing.

So it’s important to have events that say, this is not okay, this is illegal in this country – this is a real issue and we all have a part to play in ending gendered violence.

Q: WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE COME OUT OF COMPANIES WHO TAKE THE PLEDGE WITH TWO GOOD?

My hope for The Pledge is that we start to see more businesses and workplaces pushing the boundaries, going beyond implementing mandated policies. I’m so inspired when I work with private sector entities and see them taking really concrete meaningful actions, that will make individual lives safer, and that they can then share with other sectors and industries – because that's where the most powerful widespread change is going to happen.

“Business moves faster than policy - they’re not just embracing change, they’re leading it.”

Having worked across a range of different industries and sectors, what really inspires me is that private sector businesses of all sizes often have the ability to move much faster than governments and policy. This is not the responsibility of government, police and frontline services alone. Of course, all the pieces are important – and we've got a national plan that says we will end gender-based violence in a generation.

But I firmly believe that business and the private sector is such a critical part of that – I've seen it done so effectively, where you have senior leaders who say, “actually, this is a priority for me as a leader.” Sometimes it might be because they've experienced it, or have a family member who's impacted. But also, because smart leaders know that they are going to have a percentage of their workforce at any given time who are impacted by this, and it makes good business sense to take care of those who work for us.

I've seen transformative work done by the private sector in the last decade, when it comes to responding to employees impacted by violence. I think there's an immense amount that we can learn from the way that businesses take this on as an issue and say, “this is not something that just happens outside of people's workplaces, it absolutely impacts it”. Sometimes because workplace resources are being used, but also because we know that people who are using violence are employed. And so we have that lever as well – being able to have that conversation with people who are abusive, to say, “have you actually thought about your behavior, and the way that it impacts on other people around you?”.

That piece hasn't been done super effectively yet, so I'd love to see business take that on and really start talking to the people who are using violence and abuse in their relationships, but aren’t aware that that behavior is not okay. Of course, all of this depends on leaders who model respect, honesty and vulnerability and who are willing to use their power and position to ensure equality and healthy relationships.

Q: AND WHEN IT COMES TO BUSINESS APPROACHES, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE AUTHENTIC, DIGNIFIED DV SUPPORT IN A WORKPLACE?

Authentic, dignified DV support in a workplace is responsive to the person and their unique needs. This is the hardest part for some. You can have exceptional policies, unlimited leave, run training across your organisation – but until you're sitting there one-on-one with a somebody in your team – or even somebody that you report to, within the hierarchy of a workplace setting, who is disclosing harm – it's impossible to create a checklist or a script for that exact conversation, that creates and nurtures someone’s safety.

“I always say it's very, very similar to the language we use around mental health and R U OK Day - often it's as simple as creating a safe space and asking somebody if they're alright.”

Workplaces must continue to build confidence and literacy in our staff, so that every time we encounter a situation where we suspect that there's something going on, we feel equipped to be empathetic and have a human conversation. You don't have to follow a script, you don't have to be a specialist, it doesn't have to be perfect – you just need to be able to say, “I've noticed these changes in your behaviour and I'm worried about you, is there anything I can do?” Which can be challenging in workplaces, it's a tough environment to do that...but I believe  we  are getting much better at doing it.

And to be prepared for the fact that they may not be able to clearly articulate, I'm experiencing abuse in my relationship – it might sound like, “I haven't slept in three weeks”, or “I'm drinking too much”, or “I'm really concerned that I can't pay my rent or my mortgage at the moment”. Building that human connection and maintaining that for as long as possible is key, because often, it'll take days, weeks, months before somebody will trust enough to say, “Yeah, I'm not sleeping well, and I can't pay my bills, and I’m having a really tough time in my relationship”. Then the next conversation might be, “Actually they've got control of our finances, so I don't know how our income is spent.”

Often, it’s little bits that come out at a time. So just focus on the practical things that you can do for somebody, to support them right now – sometimes it will be really simple things, but first, it’s building that trust and safety.

Q: SO IT'S VERY MUCH ABOUT A PERSONALISED SAFETY PLAN, RATHER THAN A SET OF STEPS TO FOLLOW?

Exactly – which is difficult, right? When you've got a big business, you need to have the big structures and the process flows. But we also need to equip every single person so they can have that conversation in a human way, in a non-judgmental way. Because the other hardest thing is to not judge their decisions or the support they need - because it can be really tough to support somebody when you're watching them go through a horrible set of circumstances. Removing the shame and that fear by listening and not judging away is hugely supportive.

We’ve improved the way we have these difficult conversations in workplaces with other things and I’ve seen it done in all sorts of business settings, so I believe it's possible.

Q: CAN YOU RECALL A PARTICULAR SITUATION WHERE WORKPLACE DV SUPPORT HAS POSITIVELY IMPACTED SOMEONE'S SAFETY?

I think about the model that a lot of workplaces are using now, where they have this idea of first responders who offer peer support and can guide an employee to the policies, internal and external supports for people impacted by mental health and other challenges.

There was a really interesting piece of research done by Kate Fitzgibbon and her team down at Monash University during COVID, talking to about 3,000 victim-survivors about the impact of that violence in their workplaces, what kinds of supports that they had and what had helped, who they spoke to or disclosed to. Before that, it was quite an abstract thing – there'd been amazing work done by Ludo McFerran and Professor Jan Breckenridge at UNSW about why we needed domestic violence leave within workplaces, we had KPMG’s 2016 report that explored the cost of violence to workplaces, but there was also a disconnect in terms of understanding why people might need not just leave, but require personalised support too.

When Kate’s team conducted her interviews, people were saying, "I'm never going to disclose to my manager - there’s a power relationship there and it doesn't feel like the right thing. But one of my colleagues reached out to me, because they noticed certain things going on." Even when we were locked in our homes during a global pandemic, regardless of what sector we work in, we spend so much time with our work colleagues day to day – they're the people who will see the changes in behaviour, or the impacts of abuse from a partner or family member.

Workplaces and colleagues have opportunities to see that their employee is being forced into  sole responsibility for the care of children or elderly relatives. During COVID lockdowns, it became more visible where perhaps someone’s partner was making it difficult for them to be online for work, or their access to a place to work was being restricted. All of those things that you wouldn't think about or see, unless you were in those circumstances, were suddenly more noticeable – and I think it really started to make businesses think, “OK, what is it we need to do as employers?”

I was doing work with the Commonwealth Bank at the time – and it was a big shift for a bank with 48,000 employees to say suddenly everybody needs to work from home, right? But I remember us having the discussion very early on, “actually, for a certain percentage of the  workforce, the safest place is going to be the office.” So how do you manage around that, when there are governments ordering everyone to stay home? How do you navigate having flexibility within broader rules and systems? Employers have really stepped up in lots of ways – and I think COVID helped with that, because it revealed some of those things that may have remained hidden.

More leaders have an understanding of what their responsibilities are now, in relation to response and prevention. The work that Kate Jenkins led at Australian Human Rights Commission, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's leadership and changes to Positive Duty, we now have the critical elements that both encourage and compel senior leaders to nurture  safe places for their employees. Not everyone is aware of their obligations, but often employers  just need a bit of extra help to get access to the tools, and get started in the context of their workplace.

Q: ONE OF THE BIGGEST PUSHBACKS WE HEARD LAST YEAR WHEN LAUNCHING THE PLEDGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA WAS, “WHAT ABOUT MEN EXPERIENCING VIOLENCE TOO?”. WITHIN THE GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE FRAMEWORK, WHAT DOES THE DATA SHOW AROUND HOW THE ISSUES IMPACT MEN AND WOMEN?

The simple answer is: violence is gendered, and the evidence is clear and consistent that the majority of people impacted are women and children. Men do experience violence and abuse, but it’s less likely to be at the hands of an intimate partner, and less likely to be lethal.

Regardless, workplace policies and domestic violence leave recognise that people of all genders can be impacted and that their support needs will be unique to their circumstances.

Thankfully, we've got ANROWS (Australian National Research Organisation on Women’s Safety) a national organisation that commissions critical research on gender-based violence as well as statistical data from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Personal Safety Study. All of those critical pieces of research data are helping us to build a clear picture of the challenge. They reflect the global story, which is that violence against women, men, children and LGBTIQA+ people, is generally perpetrated by men.

Men who experience violence, typically experience it from other men – often, it’s on the street or in a venue. When men do experience intimate partner violence, it's less likely to result in serious physical harm, they're less likely to fear for their lives or lose their lives as a result of violence from a heterosexual, cisgender, female partner. But, of course it happens, and absolutely they deserve support, empathy and assistance to recover and heal.

We still know so comparatively little about LGBTIQA+ people’s  experiences of violence – there is some data, but we do know that trans and bisexual women are particularly vulnerable.

There is always more to be done to improve responses, options and pathways to recovery for all who are impacted by violence. Provisions within workplaces, having active, open, ongoing conversations about the types of violence that are non-physical – including patterns of coercive control and the secondary impacts on people close to that family or relationship – will all shift the dial.

“We’ve got a way to go before everyone is on the same page, but I also see businesses really embracing and leading this – and that, for me, is highly encouraging.”

Q: IF COMPANIES ARE FEELING OVERWHELMED ABOUT HOW OR WHERE TO START WITH THEIR WORKPLACE DV SUPPORT, WHAT WOULD YOU ADVISE AS A FIRST STEP?

You can head to the Our Watch website, because there's a bunch of tools there for workplaces to help them get started, to better respond and embed cultures of respect and inclusion. Much of that came from work they did with the Commonwealth Bank, where the bank said, we're going to white label this and share what we’ve learnt through our experiences of implementing leave, and developing support pathways for employees and customers impacted by abuse. Many lessons and approaches can be transplanted from one sector or workplace, to another.

Liz Broderick and the Champions of Change ongoing work is exceptional. They continue to lead the way in driving gender equality initiatives that engage industry leaders to take meaningful action. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency is making a substantial contribution supporting  employers to understand their obligations in this space – and of course, the Australian Human Rights Commission continues their important work on sexual harassment, discrimination and the implementation of positive duty. WAGEC also has some tools and resources that we share with employers, to help them respond and prevent violence.

But if somebody's just starting it all for the first time, I'd say go and find somebody else within your industry or your sector that's been doing this for a while – they'll tell you the best way to approach it and frame it. There's such good peer support between different organisations and HR professionals now – safety is an issue in every workplace, and we will all continue to learn from new approaches that prioritise respect, inclusion and safety for employees.