Domestic violence involves physical and/or sexual assault, as well as psychological abuse involving threats and verbal abuse.

Victims of domestic violence are often forced by their partners to have little or no contact with family and friends, and often have no access to their own finances. This, combined with the near total loss of self-confidence as a result of consistent abuse, locks many women into a situation from which it is extremely difficult to escape.

For many the violence has reached a point where they fear for their lives if they attempt to leave their partner.

Violence against women in the home is a frighteningly common occurrence around the world. In Australia, more than 100 women are killed every year by their male partners and, worldwide, statistics indicate that as many as one in four women will be a victim of domestic violence at some point in their lives.

It is only over the last few decades that discussion about domestic violence has entered the public arena. For centuries it was almost completely hidden behind closed doors. Women had no means to expose what went on in their private lives and they had no support, emotionally or financially, if they left their husbands.

The silence was perpetuated by the state's, in particular the police force, refusal to enter into the home - "a man's private domain". State intervention was seen as a restriction of individual freedom, an invasion of privacy. Unfortunately for women, freedom from state intervention meant they had no protection from domestic violence.

Today's awareness of the extent of domestic violence is a result of successful campaigning by the women's liberation movement that emerged in the 1960s and '70s. Then the movement was largely focussed on campaigns for equal rights and pay for women in the work force, and access to free and safe abortion. These campaigns generated huge street demonstrations as well as ongoing and well organised publicity and consciousness raising campaigns. Support networks and empowerment campaigns for women began to develop, and victims of domestic violence began to find avenues to speak out about, and challenge, the violence against them.

Alongside campaigning in the public sphere, the women's movement and feminist academics began to pay closer attention to the situation of women in the private realm. The oppression of women in the home, that is the sexual division of labour and violence against women in the home, became more of a focus for feminist campaigns.

In 1974 the women's refuge movement emerged. It was initiated by a group of women in Sydney who offered accommodation to victims of domestic violence at their inner city squat. The strength of the women's movement at the time, as well as growing community awareness that domestic violence was a widespread problem, eventually forced the government to allocate funds to the refuge. By 1979 there were 93 government-funded women's refuges in operation.

One of the great strengths of the refuge movement was its explanation of where the violence came from. It saw domestic violence as a symptom of the oppression women face in society. The movement argued that, while refuges were necessary to provide temporary relief, violence in the home would only be eradicated once sexism throughout society had been eliminated.

Refuges and crisis centres were set up to provide immediate shelter and protection for victims of violence, as well as financial and legal support to help women leave violent situations.

Photo by Jennifer Thompson

More generally, the women's movement has also taken up the campaign against domestic violence with a massive propaganda offensive. This campaign has been successful in raising community awareness about domestic violence and informing victims of domestic violence of their options. Grassroots actions, such as the international annual Reclaim the Night marches, have given many women a direct avenue for self empowerment, and helped pressure governments to initiate legal reforms for women.

Establishing publicly-funded refuges and crisis centres were among the first successes of the campaign against violence against women. Since then the campaign has forced significant changes in wider community attitudes towards domestic violence, changes that eventually resulted in violence against women in the home being made punishable by law alongside all other crimes.

Unfortunately, however, these gains haven't been enough; domestic violence is still a huge problem. A report released in January by the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health indicates that one in five girls are sexually abused by the time they turn 16. In almost half of the assaults the perpetrator was a male relative. And the Australian Bureau of Statistics Women and Safety Survey carried out last year showed that a significant percentage of women still suffered from violence at the hands of their male partner.

Today we are hearing a lot of rhetoric from the government about the need for a return to "family values". Alongside this we are seeing major cutbacks in funding for women's services. The consequences for women are further economic dependence on men and an increase in discrimination and violence.

Marching together on International Women's Day is part of the ongoing struggle for the right of all women to go to work, walk down the streets and live in their homes without the fear of violence. To advance that right, women must have more and better accommodation, health and crisis services; free, 24-hour child care; equal access to education and good wages and working conditions.

In Australia today the struggle against violence against women is a struggle against the government's attacks on our rights to these services.