Jill Meagher's husband calls for change in attitudes to gender based violence

Tom Meagher, husband of the late Jill Meagher, who was raped and murdered in Melbourne in 2012, has said that the way we define violence needs to change if we want younger generations to grow up in a world without gender based violence.

He was speaking at the 'Purple Up Limerick' rally in the city on Saturday, part of the '16 Days of Action Opposing Violence Against Women' that has seen local businesses and individuals display or wear something purple as a show of solidarity.

Mr Meagher has recently moved back to Ireland and is now an ambassador for the 'White Ribbon' campaign, an organisation dedicated to challenging the social norms that perpetuate men’s violence against women.

“There seems to be no legal or social standard for how we understand violence, particularly in relationships," he said.

Violence is done psychologically, emotionally and financially as well as physically. Violence in relationships is about control and creating dependency,” he added.

Mr Meagher said that this violence can manifest itself in a number of ways including threatening violence, hyper-jealousy, sexual abuse and isolation from friends and family.

“These forms of abuse can lead the victim to doubt that she has been abused enough and also lead the abuser to tell themselves, and their partner, that what they’re doing is not abuse.”

The 'Purple Up' campaign is running alongside a worldwide United Nations initiative from November 25 to December 10 - UN Human Rights Day.

In Ireland, one in five women experience domestic violence during their lifetime, and it is estimated that 213,000 women in Ireland are living with severe abuse from their boyfriends, husbands and partners.

One of those attending the march was Social Democrat Limerick City Council candidate Sarah Jane Hennelly.

“For an issue so rarely spoken about – that is a huge number of women across this country suffering in their own homes. Less than half of women who survive sexual violence actually report it. Stigma is a huge deterrent for women seeking justice," she said.

A public gathering of support for women in these situations is incredibly important in breaking down this stigma firstly; and secondly in highlighting the extreme need for services like Rape Crisis Midwest and Adapt in our city,” she added.