Submission on the Victorian Youth Strategy consultation

This submission is informed by the following principles:

1. Apply an intersectional gender equity approach across the strategy to ensure it addresses the diverse needs of young people
2. Take a whole-of-government approach in order to address the social determinants of young people’s health and wellbeing
3. Ensure a strong focus on primary prevention and early intervention across the strategy to support young people’s health, wellbeing and inclusion

WHV makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1: Focus efforts on promoting gender equality as a contributing factor to improve outcomes for young women across all outcome domains of the Victorian Youth Strategy.

Recommendation 2: Invest in an intersectional gender-sensitive approach to youth mental health promotion to address the drivers of poor mental health among girls and young women, including gender inequality.

Recommendation 3: Take an intersectional, trauma-informed and gender-responsive approach to delivery of youth mental health services.

Recommendation 4: Address barriers to help-seeking among young women.

Recommendation 5: Take an intersectional gender-sensitive approach to health promotion, including addressing structural barriers and enablers for healthy behaviours.

Recommendation 6: Tackle the sexualisation of young women and promote positive body image.

Recommendation 7: Focus on health, not weight in all interventions that aim to improve young women’s physical health.

Recommendation 8: Invest in an evidence-based approach to comprehensive whole-of-school sexuality and relationships education within Victorian schools.

Recommendation 9: Ensure youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services are available in all regions of Victoria.

Recommendation 10: Strengthen the focus on sexual assault and harassment in initiatives to prevent and respond to violence against women.

Recommendation 11: Scale up efforts to promote gender equality and prevent violence against women in the media and advertising settings.

Recommendation 12: Strengthen the focus on challenging rigid masculine gender norms in primary prevention.

Recommendation 13: Incorporate a focus on reproductive coercion into primary prevention and response to violence against women.

Recommendation 14: Ensure a strong intersectional focus across all primary prevention initiatives, as well as continuing to roll out and scale up initiatives tailored to specific population groups.

Recommendation 15: Undertake further research to strengthen the evidence base for primary prevention of violence against women.

More information about the Victorian Youth Strategy can be found here.