End Family Violence

Family violence and violence against women has been a problem in New Zealand for a long time. Then in 2020, the country endured a pandemic and this meant many households experienced even worse abuse and it was even more difficult for victims to leave. More recently, cyclone Gabrielle has displaced thousands of families and has devastated many family businesses. This has made family violence in New Zealand even worse.

In February this year, The Spinoff reported that there had been a "60% increase in family harm" in the effected areas following cyclone Gabrielle. According to the Good Shepherd website: "On average, police attend a family violence episode every four minutes. 67% of family violence episodes still remain unreported. Nearly half of all homicides and reported violent crimes are related to family violence. Family violence events have increased 60% over the past five years and are predicted to increase by a further 35% by 2025. In 2020 and 2021, there were 155,338 family harm incidences which accounted for 16% of all police frontline activity."

This is unacceptable and simply not okay. New Zealanders love to boast about how great our country is for women. "We were first to get the vote for women!" , "We legalised gay marriage!" , "We have had two women Prime Ministers!" And yet, our daughters, our sisters, our aunties, our friends, our colleagues and our neighbours suffer in silence in their own homes.

Donate to help Shine help those affected by family violence.