Researchers from La Trobe University want to learn from people who have regularly engaged in public and private conversations about child sexual abuse as part of their advocacy work.

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They're asking people to complete a 40-60 minute survey to help them identify the most effective ways of raising community awareness of child sexual abuse.

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The research is funded by the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse and the Australian Research Council. To the researchers' knowledge, it is the first research of this kind in the world.

The Commissioner for Children and Young People, Liana Buchanan, is stepping down from her role later this month to take up the position of Deputy Commissioner of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.

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During her time as Commissioner, Liana placed child sexual exploitation firmly on the public agenda, and was resolute in her defence of the human rights of children subjected to child sexual abuse and exploitation when the state failed them.

Liana will leave her role on 23 March.

Australian women earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to the latest pay gap data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). The data, which comes from every private sector employer in Australia with more than 100 employees, shows the average gap in total remuneration (including salary, super and bonuses) is 21.8%.

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This is largely driven by the dominance of men in high paying roles with large bonuses. While the average gender pay gap is 5.8% in businesses that pay an average wage of $55,000-$99,000, this soars to 28.5% in businesses where the average wage is $250,000 or more.

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Just over half (56%) of employers improved their pay gaps since last year, but only 15% have a gap in the target range of less than 5%.

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The WGEA data is one of three data sets released last week painting a picture of gender inequality in Australia. We also saw the release of the Australian Government's Status of Women Report Card and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, which made the rounds in the news for its finding that men spend the same amount of hours on housework as they did 20 years ago.

Women who have experienced intimate partner violence suffer drops in employment, educational attainment and financial security, new research by Anne Summers has found. Drawing on customised data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and other existing data sets, the report has quantified the economic impact of intimate partner violence in Australia for the first time. Some of the key findings include:

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• women who experienced IPV in the past five years had a 5.3% lower employment rate (76.1%)  compared to women who had not (81.4%)
• women who had experienced sexual or physical violence by a partner in the last five years were significantly more likely to struggle with household cashflow (44%) compared to those who had never experienced IPV (7.2%)
• by the time women are about 27, there's about a 15% gap in university degree attainment between women who have experienced IPV and women who have not.

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As the report groups physical and sexual violence together, it doesn't say anything about the distinct economic impacts of partner sexual violence.  

(Note the report uses the term "domestic violence" to describe intimate partner violence as, in the words of the authors, "this is the most recognisable term to most people.")

Nearly all patients who received an integrated crisis response at one sexual assault service in Sydney would recommend the service to a friend, recent research has found. The researchers looked at patient feedback questionnaires from the Royal North Shore Hospital's sexual assault service, which offers 24-hour crisis care from a counsellor working alongside a forensically trained doctor or nurse. Of the almost 300 patients who completed the questionnaire, most rated the response by the sexual assault service as 'great' (93%), and the forensic medical examination experience as 'reassuring' (75%) or 'OK' (20%).