ON THE eve of the AFL Carlton Respects Game, the players and coaches reflect on what Carlton Respects means to them.
On average, at least one woman a week is killed by a partner or former partner in Australia, and that is just one part of the problem.
The Carlton Football Club is aiming to reduce this inequality through their Carlton Respects program, raising awareness and using their platform to get the message out there.
Here's what they had to say.
Voss on what he's learnt from Carlton Respects:
"My first impression is just how passionate people are about [the program]. This isn’t something that’s been taken on and is a convenient conversation to have, this is a serious conversation.
"Equality and domestic violence is a really important topic and as a man in society, to be able to role model that not only for myself, but for our Club is extremely important to us and an extremely important initiative for the Carlton Football Club."
McGovern on why Carlton Respects is important to him:
"The Carlton Respects game is important to me. It’s not only providing awareness of the program and what’s happening in day to day life, but it’s also educating people that don’t understand and don’t know what is actually going on behind the scenes with not only gender equality but also domestic violence towards women. For me personally, it’s a big week and a big game."
Stocker on being role models in the community:
"A lot of people don’t understand how much violence against women and how much of a prejudice women in society face.
"As role models in society, we can show people the right way to treat women, but also to understand although our lives at home might be in really good touch in terms of our own respect to women, the way it looks throughout the rest of society isn’t quite the same.
"As role models to a lot of people, people with wide-ranging voices, we can get the notoriety out there that this isn’t acceptable and it’s not the status quo, then we can change the narrative and change men's behaviour towards women."
Voss on how to show respect:
"Treating others as equal is the biggest one. Coming into Carlton, the AFL women’s program and the AFL men's program concurrently running is really important.
"It’s an extremely important dynamic to have both teams able to share facilities and have equal say, equal presence at the Club, and it builds a really strong connection amongst the community."
McGovern on what the initiative has taught him:
"The initiative has taught me that you’re pretty naive to what’s going on behind closed doors. A lot of the stuff we’re doing here at the Club, educating us and informing us of stats and things that are happening over the course of the year with domestic violence and the Carlton Respects. I’ve just realised how much I don’t know and what is yet to be learned."
Stocker on how he views respect:
"I think paying respect to people’s situation, so not passing judgement. A lot of people are too quick to judge in today’s day, a lot of people are not understanding of other people's scenarios or situations in their own home lives.
"On top of that, you can’t walk past violence or prejudice against women. The standard you walk past is the standard you set, particularly from that point of few, not letting violence or prejudice against women go unnoticed."
Voss on using his platform to support the program:
"The first part where the impact is is raising awareness. We all have a role to play and the fact that we can use our position in our Club to be able to create awareness is extremely important to us."
McGovern on how he sees respect:
"The simplest way to show respect to one another is treating everyone as equals, being kind, being respectful. If you see something that’s not right, step in and say something. If it’s not the right time to, report that to someone that can have an impact on the situation. Be kind, be helpful and be respectful."
Stocker on what he's learnt from Carlton Respects:
"The scariest thing the Carlton Respects program has taught me is the amount of violence that goes on, particularly against women.
"I know when I was in school, a lot of people used to say ‘it’s not just violence against women’, but the reality is most of it is. It’s a pretty sobering thought to think that that many men can get away with it.
"It sort of rots me to my core that a lot of people can get away with that. I think it’s really important that people understand that home life isn’t safe for a lot of women in Australia and that’s not the way it should be."
