eAware Women & Girls’ Online Safety

In November 2023, Gippsland Women’s Health was a successful recipient of the e-Safety Commissioner grant program – Preventing Tech-Facilitated Coercive Control of Women and Girls in Regional and Rural Victoria. The Preventing tech-facilitated coercive control of Women Grants Program, led by eSafety, will provide important resources and services to help protect Australian women and children. This includes tools to prevent abuse before it starts.

Along with our five partners, our intention is to prevent tech-facilitated coercive control by creating meaningful, impactful and time enduring resources that are informed by lived experience. These resources will be accessible to women and girls living in regional and remote Victoria.

Through a collaborative, human-centred approach the eAware Women & Girls’ Online Safety Project will develop digital tools and resources aimed at the prevention of tech-facilitated coercive control of women and girls in marginalised communities throughout regional and remote Victoria where intersectional factors further increase the risk of victimisation. 

A core focus of the eAware: Women & Girls’ Online Safety project is to shine a light on the lived experience of women and girls living in regional and rural Victoria. The term ‘women’ and ‘girls’ refers to people who identify as female and we are especially interested in collaborating with;

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Sexuality and gender-diverse people
• People who are living with a disability
• Culturally and linguistically diverse people 

** The term ‘women’ and ‘girls’ is used to recognise the diverse range of individuals who identify as women or girls. This definition encompasses cisgender women, transgender women, and those who are nonbinary or gender diverse and align themselves with the “female experience”.

The purpose of our consultation workshops and survey is to learn how we can educate and influence people about preventing tech-facilitated coercive control by integrating the lived experiences of those people living within regional and remote Victoria.

Our goal through collaborative consultation is to collaborate with women and girls from; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, sexually and gender diverse communities, living with a disability communities, and migrant or immigrant communities.

eAware Project Pillars

Our eAware project pillars will ensure we deliver impactful and meaningful resources for the prevention of tech-facilitated coercive control in regional and rural Victoria.  Our project pillars are:

• Online Upstander Training Package
• eAware Campaign Strategy
• Ending Tech-Facilitated Coercive Control Campaign
• Digital Resources and Tools

Tech-facilitated violence & abuse includes many types of violence and abuse including gendered and family violence, intimate partner abuse, sexual assault, child abuse, sibling bullying, and elder abuse.

The role of tech-facilitated gendered violence and abuse perpetration and victimisation varies according to the gender of the victim-survivor and/or perpetrator. The gendered aspect of tech-facilitated violence and abuse refers to the impacts upon victim-survivors and the relationships in which the tech-facilitated violence and abuse occurs.

Technology-facilitated coercive control (TFCC) is a form of abusive behaviour using digital technologies. Over time this creates fear and takes away the person’s freedom and independence. Examples may include checking someone’s phone to see who they are communicating with; controlling or taking over internet accounts; using cameras or recording devices to spy on someone; or using a GPS tracker to monitor their location.

The eAware: Women and Girls’ Online Safety Project is supported by the partnership between members of the regional Women’s Health Network; Gippsland Women’s Health, Women’s Health in the South East, Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West, Women’s Health Goulburn North East, Women’s Health Loddon Mallee and Women’s Health Grampians.

This project was funded through the eSafety Commissioner’s Preventing Tech-based Abuse of Women Grants Program – an Australian Government Initiative.