Boys are rarely taught to be caring. If they were, we could better prevent domestic violence

Following another series of alleged killings of women across Australia, the country has once again found itself asking familiar questions: how many more women have to die before we act? What more should governments do? Why does this violence keep happening? These questions are both understandable and necessary.

The immediate priorities are clear: protecting women at risk, ensuring perpetrators are held accountable, investing in specialist services, and strengthening the systems that respond to domestic and family violence.

But if we are serious about preventing future violence, we should also ask a different question: how do we stop men being violent in the first place? As I outline in a new report , one measure that would help is encouraging more men to be caring.

This is not a substitute for the many evidence-based approaches already used to prevent men’s violence against women .

Nor is it a soft alternative to accountability.

Rather, it’s an important and underdeveloped part of prevention that deserves more attention.

Making over masculinity Violence prevention has traditionally focused on reducing risk factors : changing harmful patriarchal norms , teaching respectful relationships , and building more gender-equitable communities .

These strategies matter, and there is good evidence they can make a difference.

However, a growing body of research suggests another complementary pathway.

Rather than focusing only on what men should stop doing, we should also pay greater attention to the kinds of men we hope they become.

Researchers increasingly call this “ caring masculinities ”.

Care is often seen as something women do.

Feminist scholars have long argued this assumption is both unfair and socially damaging.

Caring for children, partners, friends, relatives and communities is essential work, yet it has historically been undervalued and disproportionately expected of women.