One-third of Australian women live in a rural, regional, or remote area.

That is 4.3 million women that continue to be disregarded and ignored in rural Australia, as they struggle to find opportunity in a remote culture dominated by men. These women play crucial roles in strengthening and supporting our communities, yet continue to face higher rates of family and domestic violence, sexual harassment, discrimination, and inequality.

In rural communities, masculinity is often conceived and expressed in terms of traditional attributes of strength and domination. This focus on traditional masculinity allows more value to be placed on men, both in the workplace and the community, leaving women unseen. It breeds generations of men who have been taught that women are weaker and less valuable to society. This is reflected in the high rate of sexual harassment in rural Australia. Women in rural Australia experience workplace sexual harassment at alarming rates. Research shows that in regional Western Australia, 73% of women had experienced sexual harassment at work. This is compared to 25% of women Australia-wide. Only 35.7% of those surveyed said they would disclose incidents. A culture of self-reliance, the effects of small-town gossip, fewer employment opportunities, and a culture of victim-blaming is leaving rural women suffering in the workplace and it cannot continue.

It needs to change.

Additionally, as of 2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that 21% of women living in rural, regional and remote areas had experienced violence from a partner by the age of 15. Whilst in urban areas that number dropped to less than 15%. Rural women are facing a significantly higher rate of domestic violence on top of workplace harassment, and yet services to support these women are not being implemented. Living in isolation gives women less support and fewer options to escape violence and intimate partner abuse, with the closest support services often hours away from women who so desperately need them, and abusers who take advantage of this isolation and subsequent vulnerability.

It needs to change.

We need to call out this violence and abuse that regional women are experiencing. We need to acknowledge as a nation, that women in rural, regional, and remote areas are disadvantaged and ignored by society. We, as rural women are so strong and capable. We live in communities that face crisis constantly: bushfires, floods, and droughts are weathered by those 4.3 million Australian women every year and we need to have the courage to speak up, call out those who ignore us and create the change we want to see. I have a responsibility as a young woman living in rural Australia to speak up and make a difference and drive change in my community. As Malala Yousafzai, a renowned female-rights activist said: “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful”.

Every time a rural woman stands up for herself, she is standing up for all regional and rural women, who all deserve to know that they are powerful and valuable and deserving of every chance and opportunity to be who they want to be in their community.