Thousands of Australians took to the streets on Monday to demonstrate violence and discrimination against women.
The demonstrations started on Sunday in Perth and Cairns and continued on Monday in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne.
The demonstrations were prompted by recent allegations of an unsafe working culture for women in the Australian Parliament. Brittany Higgins, a former Liberal Party political adviser, said last month that she was raped by a male colleague in the parliament building in 2019 while working for then-Secretary of Defense Linda Reynolds. Three other women have since come out as well, claiming to have been assaulted by the same man.
In a speech in the city of Canberra, Higgins accused Australian politicians of evading accountability. “We have all learned in recent weeks how common gender-based violence is in this country,” she said. “It’s time our leaders on both sides of politics stopped avoiding the topic and bypassing accountability. It’s time we actually address the problem.”
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has invited the organization behind the March4Justice demonstrations for a behind-closed-door conversation, but the organization has refused. They did, however, submit a petition with 90,000 signatures, calling for more accountability for sexist behaviour in Parliament.
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