Public brawls, teenage gangs and some awkward hair-pulling incidents. What's going on with Australian women?

A quick glance of news headlines and Facebook feeds containing graphic stories or videos of women beating each other up would suggest there has been a serious escalation of violence among females in this country.

On Tuesday, a girl-on-girl fighting story made headlines after security and mobile phone vision was released of women involved in a brawl at a Sydney racecourse.

A few weeks ago, footage emerged of a 13-year-old girl being attacked by a group of female teens at a western Sydney train station.

Earlier this month, a vicious Melbourne schoolyard scrap between three female students was filmed. The savage beating was captured by a fellow student, posted on Facebook and viewed tens of thousands of times.

In January, Queensland Police Senior Constable Adrienne Harries warned the growing number of teenage girls using social media to organise public brawls was a serious problem.

"I've been doing this for three or four years now and seen the increase of girls fighting ... girls probably 13 to 15 years old," Ms Harries said.

And a swift search on YouTube returned more than 29 million 'girl fight' videos — eight times more than those featuring boys.

So what's going on? Is violence among women as big a problem as it would seem?

Crime rates show girl-on-girl violence is declining

Despite anecdotal evidence, crime rates show girl-on-girl violence is not increasing — in fact, data reveals the trend is actually going the other way.

Since 2010 the number of common and serious assaults across Queensland has decreased.

According the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), the number of assaults committed by female juveniles has dropped 3 per cent per year in the past decade.

Meanwhile, the number of female offenders charged for Acts Intended to Cause Injury (including physical fights) has largely remained stable over the past six years.

Catharine Lumby, a Professor of Media at Macquarie University, said media interest in women fighting with other women springs not from tangible evidence, but from stereotypes that men are physical and women are emotional.

"[Female brawling] is not new. The fact it's now filmed and has media attention makes it appear new," Dr Lumby told ABC News.

"Media publicity can also encourage copycat scenarios for people wanting attention."

Dr Lauren Rosewarne, a senior social scientist at the University of Melbourne, said the media loves nothing more than a "catfight, a scragfight to perpetuate that 'bitch' stereotype".

"It's clickbait, it's a spectacle — the clawing and hair pulling. And remember some men pay to see women fight, like with jelly wrestling," Dr Rosewarne said. "There's a real sexualisation of women fighting."

But with our attention trained on click-worthy "catfights", we are failing to notice that there are other serious offences occurring that we are yet to fully understand.

Women's drug and weapons offences on the rise

Of greater concern to law enforcers is the number of women charged with illicit drug offences, which increased by 42 per cent over six years to 2014/15.

Police charges include drug possession, drug use, drug dealing, and drug trafficking. The increase in the number of drug offences committed by men during the same period was just 24 per cent.

Dr Don Weatherburn, Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, attributed the rise in drug offences among both genders to increased amphetamine and cocaine use.

"This is going up with men as well, very quickly ... You only have to cross reference that with hospital admissions to see that this is happening," Dr Weatherburn said.

Professor Roderic Broadhurst, a criminologist at the Australian National University, said women were becoming more active in the drug trade and new technology was making it easier to track them down.

"Dealing used to [take place on] street corners and people's flats, and now with technology you can chat on WhatsApp, talk about locations and drop-offs without being hot spotted by police. Women are using avenues like that," Professor Broadhurst said.

'Girls with guns' a growing problem

More women are also being charged with weapons related offences. This category includes bomb threats, possessing prohibited weapons and explosives, and possessing while unlicensed.

There has been a whopping 70 per cent increase in the number of female offenders since 2008 — the most significant increase among women who are charged with crimes in Australia.

But Dr Weatherburn attributed the increase to more proactive policing, which was introduced in New South Wales after a surge in drive-by shootings in 2008 and again in 2012.

"There is actually a decrease in shooting offences at the moment. So this dramatic increase in charges is largely to do with law enforcement," he said.

Police also conducted more home raids and searched cars and workplaces.

"Police were under enormous pressure to get the guns off our streets and in their searches women were found to be breaking the law," Dr Weatherburn said.

Professor Broadhurst stressed that the majority of serious crime continues to be carried out by male perpetrators.



"Women are more likely to be accessories to crime," Professor Broadhurst said. "For example, she might be carrying around a weapon in her purse for a guy she's involved with - the thought is that she's less likely to be searched."

So, drugs, guns, the trap of technology and a more active police force. Not quite an epidemic of girl fights. The real story may be less titillating, but far more troubling.