Australia – A Land for Young Women? Exploring Young Women's Positioning in Contemporary Australian Family Violence Discourses

Background

It is understood that a series of significant changes occur in the lives of young people during adolescence, including puberty and other biopsychosocial and spiritual developments (Harms, 2010). During this phase, young women commonly develop their first intimate romantic and sexual relationships (Harms, 2010); however, this time can also be a period during which the tactics of power and control that characterise intimate partner violence may emerge (Shorey et al., 2012). Current Australian knowledge of violence which occurs in adolescent relationships is often limited to understanding prevalence and experiences (Daff et al., 2021), characteristics, gender and identity implications (Chung, 2007) and some considerations for primary prevention (Shorey et al., 2012). What exists focuses predominantly on white heterosexual relationships and cis-gendered young women (Crooks et al., 2019). We have less understanding of the power and control experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and transgender (LGBITQ + ) youth in romantic intimate relationships. This is a considerable gap, given emerging research indicating that LGBITQ + family and intimate partner violence is compounded due to experiences of marginalisation (Harden et al., 2022). Adopting an intersectional and critical feminist lens, with an emphasis on how age and adolescent development intersect in experiences of intimate partner violence, this article examines research, literature and policy to uncover how young women are positioned and represented in Australian family violence discourses.

The paper begins by outlining its grounding frameworks – intersectionality and social geographies – as a way to understand the notion of young women, followed by a historical account of their social and political positioning in Australia. The paper then focuses specifically on family violence, how it is defined and conceptualised, before narrowing the scope to consider the positioning of young women in these discourses, using Australian and international comparative examples. This paper draws heavily on learning from developments in Australia – specifically the State of Victoria. This state held the largest inquiry of its kind ever undertaken in Australian history – the 2015 Royal Commission into Family Violence (RCFV). The reform work from this, which is ongoing, means that Victoria is recognised as leading the way nationally in beginning to explore and address family violence. The implications for social work policy and advocacy are the focus of the conclusion, presented in a way which centres the voices and experiences of young women, and critically explores their positioning and representation in contemporary Australian family violence discourses.

Framing and Conceptualising Young Women and Their Experiences Through the Lenses of Intersectionality and Social Geographies

Whilst many complexities come to light when an intersectional lens is adopted, for the purposes of this paper, the core focus is gender and age/lifespan development, given the absence of attention to the latter in IPV discourses. The term young women is used here to include any self-identifying young woman in the developmental stages of early, middle and late adolescence:10 to 20 years (Harms, 2010). Intersectionality offers a way of understanding the complexity and breadth of human experience. Talwar (2019) describes this framework, highlighting how human identities hold diverse dimensions that exist in systems and structures shaped by history, power, representation and other factors. Further, this author contends, these dimensions do not exist in isolation or as defined categories, but rather as structural discourses of power that can create barriers and challenges which overlap, compound and co-exist at different points in time, and may indeed be covert and become normalised over time. Intersectionality therefore calls for both the interrogating of power dynamics and the redesign and re-engineering of systems to encompass the complexity and diversity of human experience (Talwar, 2019). An intersectional lens is vital given the specific socio-cultural and historical conditions of Australia. This framework can illuminate the different power discourses that create barriers for those experiencing family and intimate partner violence, and draw attention to the specific experiences of young women.

Existing as a colonised country, Australia is an island continent occupied by more than 25 million people (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021) and characterised by significant geographical diversity. While it is home to hundreds of First Nations language groups and cultures and is a multicultural society – with 28.5% of the population born overseas (Vaughan et al., 2019) – Australia has a British constitutional monarchy and is occupied and dominated by generations of white settlers (Moreton-Robinson, 2000). Racism and colonisation, as well as other discriminatory discourses, are reflected in the lives of specific groups of Australian women. Higher rates, frequency and severity of family violence are experienced by First Nations women (Langton et al., 2020), while additional complexities and barriers to support are experienced by migrant and refugee women (Vaughan et al., 2019), disabled women (Australian Government, 2022) and LGBTIQ + women (Harden et al., 2022). In critically examining representation and positioning of young women in discourses related to family violence, it is recognised that age and gender are only part of the diverse dimensions to their identity, but this focus forms a starting place for this discussion.

The intersectional and critical feminist lens brought to this analysis is augmented by a consideration of adolescent social geographies. This additional and complementary lens provides further insight into the complexity of young women's lives, including the ways in which power can be not only seen and interrogated, but challenged and claimed. Social geographies position children and young people as knowing actors with agency, navigating socio-spatial landscapes such as their bodies, homes, families, relationships and environments including public and institutional spaces (Holt, 2011). While young people's social geographies are distinct from those of children, this distinction is for the most part overlooked (Valentine, 2008). A focus on childhood, and the normalisation of adulthood as a point of completion, can lead to young people being measured by their lack of adult skills, rather than their possession of abilities reflective of their stage of development (Tagesson & Gallo, 2021). Framing adolescence as a transition period, with young people as not quite adults, acts to minimise the experiences and expertise held by young people in navigating their social and intimate geographies (Lombard, 2013), which are significant. The experience of adolescence involves a cascade of biopsychosocial developmental tasks such as communication and negotiation, sexual identity expression, first romantic relationships, an emphasis on peer connection and the increasing exploration of social and relational systems without adult supervision (Foshee et al., 2013). From this perspective, age and development can be considered as simultaneous events, experiences and discourses that influence the lives and identities of young people.

During adolescence, neurological and brain development changes result in cognitive processes becoming increasingly sophisticated, as rationality, world and personal values, self-consciousness, abstract thought and foresight strengthen (Harms, 2010). Adolescence in this context is not a transition between the binary of child/adult, but rather a continual process of ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ impacted by the social geographies of their lives (Lombard, 2013). Young women are required not only to navigate adolescent development, but also intersecting power discourses such as gender, sexuality, race, culture, ableism and geographical locality. The lenses brought to the analysis in this paper highlight experiences and challenges, but also provide insight into young women's capacity for agency and voice. Such framing also draws attention to young women's social and historical positioning, as this shapes their representation in broader (including feminist) scholarship, and subsequently in family violence discourses.

Bringing a Critical Feminist Lens to Young Women's Contemporary and Historical Positioning in Australia

Family Violence in Australia

The term family violence is legally defined in all Australian states and territories, except for New South Wales (Langton et al., 2020) where it is referred to as ‘domestic and family violence’ (Australian Law Reform Commission [ALRC], 2010). Overarchingly, the term encompasses any violent, controlling or threatening behaviour that impacts the safety of a family member; it includes both elder and child abuse (ALRC, 2010). Family violence is illegal in all Australian states and territories, with the behaviour recognised as including threats and/or actualised forms of physical violence, sexual assault and sexually abusive behaviour, economic abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, stalking, kidnapping and deprivation of liberty, property damage and injury or death (ALRC, 2010). The term ‘family violence’ is the preferred term by First Nations peoples in Australia, due to its ability to encompass violence in kinship, community, clans, extended families, descent groups and other relational contexts (Langton et al., 2020). This terminology was increasingly adopted in the Australian policy context from the 1980s onwards (Murray & Powell, 2009).

All Australian states and territories have defined commitments to preventing and ending family violence, while the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 is currently in draft consultative form and includes specified action plans for First Nations Australians (Australian Government, 2022). Despite continued and emerging work within the Australian socio-political arena to address this issue, over the prior decade rates of family violence have remained relatively stable (AIHW, 2021). National data published in 2019 identifies that 17% (1.6 million) Australian women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or former partner and 23% of Australian women (2.2 million) have experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner (AIHW, 2021).

As noted above, critical feminist approaches have had a significant impact on the national Australian policy landscape over the past few decades (Murray & Powell, 2009), providing scaffolding for current discourses relating to gendered violence. This has included shifting the way violence against women is framed, from being a ‘behind closed doors’ issue to one recognised as a social and political responsibility (Murray & Powell, 2009). Currently, an overarching framework exists in Australia that utilises a strong survivor-focused paradigm (Ragusa, 2017), an increasingly intersectional awareness (Ourwatch, 2021) and a primary prevention lens that focuses on gender equality (Ourwatch, 2020). This is evident in both policy (e.g., National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032) and in practice tools (e.g., the Victorian Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework; Victorian Government, 2021). This intersectional framework acknowledges that structural oppression is particularly relevant for First Nations Australians who remain over-represented in family violence statistics (Langton et al., 2020). Furthermore, migrant and refugee women (Vaughan et al., 2019), disabled women, LGBITQ + populations and those in rural and remote regions have been identified in national statistics as experiencing higher rates of family and sexual violence (AIHW, 2019). Yet, despite embracing intersectionality, adolescent development rarely features as a direct practice consideration or in the development and implementation of policy on intimate partner violence. Young women remain under-researched in national family violence inquiry, and this is particularly so for those who hold multiple intersecting dimensions to their identity.

Conceptualising and Positioning Young Women and Intimate Partner Violence

In Australia, young people are recognised as victim survivors in their own right when family violence is perpetrated by parents, care givers and other family members (RCFV, 2016). However, limited Australian research has been undertaken into the use of violence within adolescent intimate partner relationships (AIC, 2021; Chung, 2007; Daff et al., 2021). Neither the prevalence of adolescent intimate partner violence nor the ongoing emotional and psychological experiences for young Australian women have been researched at a national level (Daff et al., 2021). Furthermore, knowledge of adolescent intimate partner violence in diverse communities and LGBITQ + populations is also underrepresented in research (Daff et al., 2021). Even within the 2020–2022 government funded National Core Grant Research Programs (ANROWS, 2021) – with the explicit aim of addressing research gaps in relation to children and young people exposed to violence against women – adolescent intimate partner violence as an independent topic of research is notably absent. In seeking to understand and respond to the forms of violence occurring in adolescent romantic intimate relationships, scholars are challenged by the very fact that such violence lacks a widespread, shared operational definition (Daff et al., 2021), and consequently the power of a name (Lombard, 2013). Young women therefore remain hidden in dominant family violence discourses, due to their lack of visibility as a distinct cohort and the absence of commonly accepted nomenclature for this issue. Lacking accepted nomenclature, the dynamics of power and control as they emerge in adolescent relationships are described by a myriad of terms including “teen dating violence, adolescent relationship abuse, dating aggression, courtship violence and adolescent intimate partner violence” (Maurer, 2019, p. 58). Yet, globally, almost one in four adolescent women aged between 15 and 19 years old are estimated as having experienced some form of violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime (World Health Organisation, 2021).

It is important to highlight that adolescent development results in young people's relationships being different to adult relationships, in that they are frequently shorter in duration, particularly during the earlier stages of adolescence, and are often deeply positioned within local social and peer networks (Maurer, 2019). Tactics of power and control which emerge in adolescent intimate partner violence often include stalking-type behaviours, as well as jealousy, fears of infidelity and possessiveness (Taylor & Sullivan, 2021). Such forms of power and control can be misconstrued by young people as caring, joking or evidence of love, rather than as warning signs of intimate partner violence (Sears et al., 2006). The ways in which abuse is enacted can also reflect historical discourses of state and social policing and the control of young women's body and sexuality. In situations of adolescent intimate partner violence, abuse may be targeted to areas developmentally sensitive to young women – including sexual reputation and changing bodies (Schute et al., 2007). Forms of power and control in adolescent intimate partner violence can also include the use of multiple escalating behaviours such as isolation from friends, family and peers, control over presentation, clothing (Towns & Scott, 2013) and finances, through to threats, physical assault and other tactics designed to intimidate and instil fear (Chung, 2007). The impacts of these behaviours are very real for young women and can serve to slowly erode their sense of freedom and self-confidence, replacing these feelings with feelings of sadness, hopelessness, isolation, oppression and fear (Howard & Wang, 2003). In a qualitative study undertaken with a small sample of young women in Aotearoa New Zealand (Towns & Scott, 2013), participants detailed narratives of feeling ‘owned’ by their boyfriends, experiencing a loss of autonomy, sexual coercion, restrictions around their interactions with others and the confusion of navigating ever changing rules. A wearing down of their sense of self, identity and confidence, similar to that described by Howard & Wang (2003), was noted. Adolescent intimate partner violence has been linked to many other serious issues for young women, including disordered eating (Gervais & Davidson, 2013), bullying (Connolly & Josephson, 2007), sexual victimisation, negative educational outcomes (Banyard & Cross, 2008) increased mental health concerns, fear and substance use issues (Taylor & Sullivan, 2021).

Violence in adolescent relationships has been evidenced in some international studies (e.g. see Cui et al., 2013) as a feature in the trajectory towards adult intimate partner violence, for both victim survivors and users of violence. Recent longitudinal research conducted over a decade in New South Wales into young people's offending trajectories and their use of violence, indicated that those who used domestic and family violence under the age of 18 years were more likely to be reported for these behaviours in adulthood (Australian Institute of Criminology [AIC], 2021). This study also identified that the commencement of abusive behaviours later in adolescence (16–17 years old) may result in an increased likelihood that these behaviours are maintained during adult intimate relationships (AIC, 2021). Such findings raise important issues in terms of prevention, early intervention and responses during different developmental stages of adolescence (Johnson et al., 2015). International and Australian studies into the support needs of young women experiencing intimate partner violence, have been critiqued for utilising measures designed for adults (Sears et al., 2006) and for their heteronormativity (Daff et al., 2021). Further, there is a lack of inquiry that has sought to develop in-depth understandings of young women's experiences (Chung, 2007).

As a unique and distinct cohort, young women remain overlooked in state and national family violence discourse in Australia. This invisibility occurs despite their overrepresentation in Australian sexual assault statistics that identify those aged between 15 and 19 years old as having the highest rate of police-reported sexual assault victimisation of any women's age group (AIHW, 2020). Furthermore, the 2013, 5^th National survey of secondary students and sexual health in Australia found that 61% of young women reported engaging in unwanted sex, because of partner influence, with 34% feeling intimidated by their partner (Mitchell et al., 2014). An earlier 2010 survey of 146 Australian young women aged between 14 and 18 years found that 90% had experienced at least one abusive and controlling behaviour in a relationship, while more than one-half had experienced five or more such behaviours (RCFV, 2016). Recent data from the Victorian Population Health Survey of 2017 echo these concerning trends, identifying the age group of 18–24 years as experiencing the highest prevalence of reported family violence (Victorian Government, 2020), but with young women of this age group significantly less likely to know where to obtain outside advice and support for family violence (Victorian Government, 2020). Violence within young people's intimate relationships was also recently identified as the fastest growing type of adolescent family violence in a 2020 review of Victorian Police Family Violence Intervention Orders and Victorian Youth Justice data (Victorian Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor, 2020).

Representation of Young Women in Family Violence Discourses

Globally, in 2018, the United Nations General Assembly confirmed a resolution to intensify efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, with a specific focus on sexual harassment (United Nations [UN], 2019). They urged and encouraged states to embed culturally sensitive gender equity educational initiatives and coordinated, comprehensive and multisectoral services, programs, legal systems, health systems and supports for women and girls who are victim-survivors of gendered violence (UN, 2019). Furthermore, this resolution called upon member states to promote the effective participation of women and girls who are victim-survivors in the development, implementation and monitoring of such endeavours (UN, 2019). Both the United States and Canada provide examples of national policies that define, identify and federally fund initiatives specific to adolescent intimate partner violence (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021; Women and Gender Equality [WGE] Canada, 2021). In the United States, this work includes the Dating Matters adolescent violence prevention model and the funding of academic-community partnerships with a specific focus on broader generalised youth violence prevention strategies (CDC, 2019). In Canada, the 2017–2023 Federal Strategy to End Gender-based Violence includes the development and testing of 22 projects focused on adolescent intimate partner violence prevention and intervention (WGE Canada, 2021). The Canadian response has also included the establishment of two youth-specific working groups (Indigenous and national), focused on informing and co-developing violence prevention and response strategies, actions and solutions with young people (WGE Canada, 2021).

Australian policy predominantly locates interventions for young women in the broader areas of primary prevention, including equal and respectful relationship education, digital literacy, and consent education, as outlined in the draft National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children (2022–2032) (Australian Government, 2022). Although this draft plan makes some reference to “increase support for young people experiencing or at risk of violence” (Australian Government, 2021 p.34), adolescent intimate partner violence is not explicitly defined or stated, and younger women are identified as experiencing “gender-based violence in the same way as adult women” (Australian Government, 2022 p.21). Somewhat in contrast, in Victoria, the RCFV identified that young people require diversion and early intervention approaches that are different from adults (RCFV, 2016), yet note that young people themselves “may not see family violence services as relevant to their own intimate partner relationships because they perceive family violence as “adult” behaviour” (RCFV, 2016, p.138). The RCFV identified that most of the early intervention, response and recovery services available to young people and children centred on their experiences of adult-perpetrated family violence (RCFV, 2016). Young people were described in this report as falling through the gaps, being less likely than any other age group to seek support due to confusion, poor self-esteem and lack of accessible information (RCFV, 2016). The distinct lack of youth-orientated family violence policies and accessible services system responses, was seen to result in young people relying on pre-existing, informal peer support networks for support (RCFV, 2016). In February 2022, the Victorian Government identified violence occurring in adolescent intimate partner relationships as a research agenda item for current and future RCFV reform actions (Victorian Government, 2020, 2022). Nationally however, adolescent intimate partner violence is not currently operationally defined and appears generally connected to primary prevention initiatives such as Respectful Relationships education in schools, which brings no specific focus on young women. This is significant given the gendered nature of adolescent intimate partner violence, and young women being the dominant victims of this form of abuse.

Primary Prevention in Australia: Young Women's Representation and ‘Milkshake Consent’

Given that young women's positioning in Australian family violence discourses is predominantly located within the primary prevention agenda, it is essential to interrogate this sphere. Firstly, with a strong foundation in Australia's colonised history, young women can be subjected to particularly strong stereotyping in adolescence, that can be pervasive and forceful in its impact on their sexual identity (Davis & Lee, 1996). Such gender stereotyping typically requires young women exercise sexual constraint and control the tempo of the relationship (Omodi, 1981); this has been evidenced more recently in multiple studies internationally and in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (Chung, 2007; Hird & Jackson, 2001). Such constructions enable the control and regulation of adolescent sexuality by young men. This contributes to victim blaming by punitively branding young women as ‘sluts’ for sexual assertiveness (Hird & Jackson, 2001) and reinforces both the justification and denial of sexual violence (Miller, 2016). Critical feminist critiques of sex education targeted at young women have raised concerns regarding its history of moral overtones (Grant & Nash, 2019) and risk emphasis (risk of rape, sexually transmitted infection, pregnancy). They note that this can reinforce gender stereotyping by placing young women in subject positions that serve to diminish their sexual and relational autonomy, belief in their entitlement for sexual desire and navigation of consent (Miller, 2016). Furthermore, recent Australian research into sex and relationship education has raised concerns about the heterosexual focus of curricula, which was identified as particularly isolating for queer and bisexual young women (Grant & Nash, 2019), as well the need for this material to be adapted to the cultural contexts of First Nations young women (Senior et al., 2020). Navigating consent and raising awareness about coerced consent are particularly important when considering adolescent intimate partner violence. Coerced consent can include psychological and verbally coercive tactics, such as coaxing, compelling, blackmailing and other forms of manipulation to engage in sex, with international studies identifying it as a tactic of power and control used in intimate partner violence relationships (Garrido-Macias & Arriaga, 2019; Banyard & Cross, 2008). The limited Australian research into adolescent intimate partner violence has also outlined young women's narratives of sexual pressure, coercion and the disregard for their sexual beliefs and boundaries by their partners (Chung, 2007).

In the state of Victoria, the RCFV recommended embedding gender-equality curriculum (Respectful Relationships) in primary and secondary schools and this is currently in-progress for state-run schools, however it is not mandated for non-government schools (Victorian Government, 2021). More widely, there are no nationally uniform Respectful Relationships or consent curriculum delivered across Australia, despite the Federal Government commissioning $3.8 m of funding for a Respect Matters education campaign in 2018. This campaign's resources were released in early 2021 and were widely criticised as “bizarre and confusing” (Zhou & Boseley, 2021, para 2.). There was limited direct reference to sex in the videos, instead tacos and milkshakes were used to discuss consent, while the male in the relationship was positioned as the primary victim (Zhou & Boseley, 2021). Concerns were raised by sexual assault prevention campaigners regarding this material trivialising sexual assault and falling short of the contemporary experiences and needs of young people (Kagi, 2021). This again emphasises the need for nation-wide consent and respectful relationship education standards, using learning material that is relevant, accessible, informed by young people, useful to young people and empirically evidenced and speaks to the gendered nature of this issue. National discourses on consent and respectful relationships education have implications for young women who experience intimate partner violence. Quantitative research in Australia regarding adolescent intimate partner violence identifies young women as significantly more likely than young men to report sexual victimisation, spanning from forced kissing to other forms of sexual assault and rape (Daff et al., 2021). The blurring of sex and love can successfully weaponise love as an effective coercion mechanism. This can be used to pressure young women's perceived commitment to the relationship by the provision of sex (Hird & Jackson, 2001) and/or through pressuring to engage in sex or sexual practices in which young women did not feel comfortable (Chung, 2007). The blurring of love and control in adolescent intimate partner violence relationships, combined with a lack of consistent definition or common language utilised by young people or adults, can create difficulties in naming violence and recognising emerging discourses of power and control in adolescent relationships (Tagesson & Gallo, 2021). Furthermore, the contemporary neo-liberal context in which these relationships occur assumes that post-feminism equality has being achieved (Chung, 2007). The neo-liberal assumption that gender equality has been achieved can contribute to young women internalising victim-blaming narratives, and blaming themselves for abuse, rather than recognising the impact of patriarchal power discourses that enable its occurrence. Such discourses can compound issues of shame and create barriers to support-seeking – often resulting in disclosures of intimate partner violence not occurring until post-relationship (Chung, 2007). Given adolescence generally involves the formation of first intimate and sexual relationships, the role of gender-equal relationship and consent education is important for the prevention of current and future intimate partner violence and the safety and empowerment needs of young women.

Implications for Social Work Policy and Advocacy

As this paper has outlined, young women are required to navigate current socio-political systems that are the legacy of patriarchy, neo-liberal capitalism, colonisation and other forms of oppression. Decades of feminist action in Australia has sought to dismantle these systems and has successfully progressed many key policy changes that work towards achieving better gender equality and family violence prevention (Murray & Powell, 2009). However, for young women who straddle the juncture of at least two marginalised identities – age and gender – their experiences of intimate partner violence remain largely unnamed and are immersed within broader national family violence discourses. Young women are not without agency in these situations. In the tradition and ethos of critical feminist activism, in youth subcultures that have emerged from the 1990s, forces such as social media have provided platforms for challenging invisibility, establishing community, self-expression and DIY self-advocacy that has held the potential to snowball into collective action (Harris, 2015). The emergence of “counter-publics” (Fraser, 1992 cited in Powell, 2015, p.215), representing young women's views, experiences and voices on platforms such as blogs, twitter campaigns, crowd-funded projects and social media, have been a powerful tool to both illuminate inequality and generate media attention and advocacy for social and political change (Powell, 2015). For example, advocacy by Australian young woman, Chanel Contos (2021) included the creation of an online petition for consent education that was accompanied by nearly 5000 testimonies by predominantly school-aged young women, who described problematic rape culture and sexual assault victimisation nationwide. Furthermore, the advocacy of 2021 Australian of the Year, young woman Grace Tame in the #LetHerSpeak Tasmania campaign, resulted in changes to laws silencing victim-survivors of sexual abuse (Arrow, 2021). Drawing upon critical feminist principles of consciousness-raising and grassroots activism (Crossley, 2017), such work raises important considerations for social work practice and advocacy. Such DIY digital activism also raises the question of whether this reliance on self-initiated grass roots advocacy is a broader reflection of young women's marginalised socio-political positioning and lack of other support options or formal platforms to express their voices.

The co-creation and representation of the ‘youth voice’ in the family violence policy context is locally limited but can be identified in examples such as policy submissions undertaken by the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria's (YACVIC) response to the RCFV recommendations. This response raised concerns that violence in young people's intimate and peer relationships was being overlooked. It advocated for further youth-focused research into adolescent intimate partner violence, both generally and specifically in LGBITQ + relationships (Youth Affairs Council of Victoria [YACVIC], 2016). Despite this, young women and issues of adolescent intimate partner violence continue to be disregarded in key national policy forums, including the recent 2021 Australian National Summit on Women's Safety, which assisted to inform the draft National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 (Australian Government 2022). Although sessions were dedicated to elder abuse, policing and justice responses and gender-equal advertising, this 2-day online summit involved nothing specifically dedicated to the issue of adolescent intimate partner violence, or the involvement of lived-experience youth survivor-advocates who have experienced intimate partner violence (Australian Government, 2021). Such absence raises issues of representation and positionality for both young people generally and young women specifically in the Australian family violence discourses.

Conclusion

As explored in this article, young women's positioning in current Australian family violence discourses is directly impacted by both current and historical social and political experiences and the intersection of gender alongside development age. Young women lack a common operational definition to describe the events of abuse, power and control that they may experience in their relationships. As a result, their experiences risk being merged with those of adult women and/or children and overlooked in key national family violence reform, policy and research agendas. Consequently, young women drift at the fringes of the family violence discourses without an anchorage point. Despite these challenges, the agency of young women alongside recent movements in technology and feminism has enabled some conditions where young women have mobilised such platforms to demand for their voices to be heard, to collectively advocate and raise awareness of their experiences. Reflecting the important family violence work done by critical feminist social work, this field holds an important role in undertaking empowering work alongside young women. Such work enables opportunities to gather evidence about their experiences and to advocate for the naming and recognition of adolescent intimate partner violence in policies, services systems and practice. Australian social work in this regard has an important role to play in the locating, centring and positioning young women in the Australian family violence discourses.