Women’s unpaid work and lack of support for Defence families outlined in Royal Commission report

Men make up 80 per cent of the Australian Defence Force, meaning most Defence partners are women, an aspect acknowledged in the Final Report from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Released on Monday, the report highlighted the neglect of family members and the challenging impacts of being in these families. The Commission reported that these women felt invisible and that the model of military family life was based on traditional roles. Wives would follow their husbands' careers as they apparently had no needs of their own. This echoes the findings of our online survey of 41 civilian female partners in Defence families. These include career, 'free work', caring responsibilities, domestic violence, secondary transfer of trauma, and access to information, resources and support.