More than 40% of female international students experienced one or more incidents of sexual violence since moving to Australia, according to a new study by researchers from Melbourne, Monash and Deakin universities and health practitioners.
While sex assaults on campus had received extensive scrutiny in recent years, heralding legislative, regulation and campus-based change, the safety of international students during their time living, studying and working in Australia has received relatively little attention.
The study, involving surveys with 1491 female international students conducted between September 2021 and April 2023, identified sexual violence as “any unwanted sexual experience, with or without physical contact.”
The survey found that 30.5% of respondents reported sexual comments or harassment; 16.9% unwanted kissing, grabbing, touching or rubbing and 8.2% reported being repeatedly pressured for sex after saying “No”. 17.9% had experienced forced or coerced sexual acts, including 11.4% who had experienced sexual assault, rape or attempted rape.
“A large proportion of coerced or forced sex was perpetrated by casual dates or hookups (43.2%), friends or acquaintances (37.1%) and intimate partners (37.5%),” the study reported. Women who had insecure housing or finances reported forced or coerced sex at a higher rate than those who did not. Survivors also tended to have low or no social support, and were less likely to report sexual assault by employers due to precarity of employment.
The researchers suggest that governments, policymakers and tertiary education institutions could improve protection for female international students by addressing financial stress, housing insecurity and connection to social networks, as well as culturally-sensitive education for international students around sexual violence and intimate partner violence.
