At RMIT, we are committed to creating a safe and respectful community.
We want to be part of the solution for responding to and preventing gender-based violence , sexual harassment, harm and assault, intimate partner violence and other related forms of violence and harm. This includes addressing the intersecting forms of inequality and disrespect that contributes to violence by attempting to build a culture of respect, collective care and safety.
Our commitment
We are committed to co-creating together a whole of organisational approach, a RMIT community where:
- relationships and interactions are respectful
- campuses, classrooms and worksites are safe and free from sexual harassment, harm and assault
- students and staff are aware of and can access support services that provide specialist response to those experiencing sexual harassment, harm, assault and gender-based violence
- students and staff are provided with learning and events that aim to prevent harm and violence and build connection and support
- users of violence and harm are identified and are held to account
- RMIT collaborates nationally with other higher education institutions to find solutions and help stop harm and harassment on campuses and within classrooms and worksites.
At RMIT we define sexual harm as any sexual behaviour that you don’t agree to, or makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. It can happen to anyone, and it is illegal.
Since 2016, when the Australian Human Rights Commission first surveyed students about sexual assault and sexual harassment at Australian universities, we’ve worked hard to build a culture of respect and make RMIT a safer place for everyone.
We’ve come a long way – but there is still more to do. And we all have a role to play.
Read our Respect at RMIT Progress Report 2017-2022 (PDF 29 MB).
Read our Addressing Gender-Based Violence Strategic Action Plan 2023-2027 (PDF 19 MB).
The Gender Equity and Justice Project
How we are working to help end disrespect, gender inequality and gender-based violence.
RMIT has dedicated teams for both preventing and responding to gender-based violence and sexual harassment, harm and assault
Our Prevention & Respect team leads all work associated with the prevention of gender-based violence, sexual harassment, harm and assault. This work is focused across key areas of governance, awareness raising, learning & development and our targeted innovation projects and activities.
We believe in the importance of piloting and attempting prevention innovation, so that we can continue to build on the evidence of what works and respond to emerging issues and concerns in our community.
Our response team, Safer Community, provides students and staff with a range of supports associated with all forms of violence and harm, such as hate crime, discrimination, verbal abuse, sexual harassment and assault, family and intimate partner violence and other associated safety issues, both on and off campuses.
Both the Prevention and Respect and Safer Community teams sit within the Operations portfolio of Health, Safety & Wellbeing and are responsible for delivering RMIT’s Addressing Gender-Based Violence Strategic Action Plan 2023-2027
The context for our work
Gender-based violence, sexual harassment, harm and assault are significant issues globally and are recognised National Priority Areas under Australia’s National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 and The Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education.
Our work is also aligned with the national leader in violence prevention, Our Watch and the guiding frameworks for both higher education and vocational education - Educating for Equality and Respect and Equality in TAFE.
Current evidence tells us that those most impacted by these forms of violence and harm are all identifying women, with higher rates seen amongst First Nations women, women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and women with diverse abilities and neurodivergence (Our Watch, 2021).
The evidence further shows that those who identify as gender and sexually diverse, including trans women and gender non-confirming people, also experience high rates of violence and harm (Hill et al., 2020). Importantly, national and international data highlights that most people experience interpersonal and sexual violence by an identifying man, regardless of the victim-survivor’s gender identity (Our Watch, 2021; ABS, 2023; Coumarelos et al., 2023).
RMIT as a community is committed to addressing gender-based violence (GBV), sexual assault and sexual harassment (SASH), intimate partner violence (IPV), family violence (FV), and other related forms of violence and harm. This includes addressing the intersecting forms of inequality and disrespect that contribute to violence by attempting to build a culture of respect, collective care and safety.
As a dual institution, RMIT’s students and staff are represented in this data, and we know that GBV and SASH have significant psychosocial and life changing impacts for students, staff, and the wider community (AHRC, 2017).
RMIT is committed to building and maintaining a robust and transparent governance structure that both informs and is responsible for all the associated work within the Prevention and Respect and Response areas.
Our work is led from the top and our current co-chairs for the Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Group for Addressing Gender-Based Violence are
Deputy Vice- Chancellor (Vocational Education) and President - Mish Eastman
Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research Training and Development - Professor Denise Cuthbert
The following outlines both our process and responsibilities
- Quarterly meetings of the Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Group for Addressing Gender-based Violence
- Bi-annual reporting to the Vice Chancellor’s Executive
- Annual summary reporting to Council through the Council Sub Committee Nominations Remuneration and People (NRPC)
Please read our current policies
- Sexual Harm Prevention & Response Policy
- Sexual Harm Response Procedure
- Domestic and Family Violence Procedure (Australia)
- Staff - Student Personal Relationship Procedure
Our Strategic Action Plans
We believe in knowledge with action and our strategic action plans guides our approach and builds our learning on what we know works best to create change here at RMIT.
From 2023 our prevention and response work is underpinned by a theory of change, with key action areas, that also inform our work plans, which both guide us and hold us accountable.
Since 2016 we have made a range of changes across our whole community at RMIT including extensive changes to governance, policy, health promotion and violence prevention events and activities. Including the appointment of additional roles in our Safer Community Team of a Child Safety Advisor and a dedicated Senior Investigator, which provides specialist response for the investigation and case management of reported Sexual Assault and Sexual Harm and Gender-Based Violence incidents. At RMIT we also have a dedicated team of violence prevention experts who lead this work across the whole of organisation.
From 2023 all our annual reports provide data relating to reported incidents of gender-based violence, sexual assault and harm and detail our response and progress toward increasing our rate of conversion of disclosures to formal reporting. This is in line with the 2017 Respect.Now.Always Report and the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education
Please read the following reports
Respect at RMIT Progress Report 2017-2022
- Please read our dedicated page to NSSS here
Support is available to any member of the RMIT community who has experienced sexual harm or has been impacted by sexual harm, no matter where or when this happened.
Our Safer Community team are ready to help. They will believe you, listen to you, and make sure you get the support you need.
Please note that Safer Community is not an emergency service. If you or others feel at risk or consider the situation to be an emergency, call emergency services via 000. If you are on campus, you can also alert campus safety and security on 9925 3333.
Our commitment to preventing sexual harassment and sexual assault, and responding better to those who experience it, is underpinned by our Sexual Harm Prevention and Response Policy.
The policy outlines the responsibilities of staff in promoting a respectful culture at the University. It also reinforces RMIT’s focus on prioritising the wellbeing of staff and students who have experienced sexual harm, and ensuring any trauma associated with disclosing or reporting an incident is minimised.
Prevention is about stopping it before it starts.
Here at RMIT our prevention and respect area is committing to piloting new ways to find solutions and we are embedding a masculinities focus across all that we do. National and international data continues to highlight that most people experience interpersonal and sexual violence by an identifying man, regardless of the victim-survivor’s gender identity (Our Watch, 2021; ABS, 2023; Coumarelos et al., 2023). We also know that outdated ideas and behaviours and the pressure to conform to these, are holding some men back from reaching their full potential.
