White Ribbon Day

With an astonishing 60 violent deaths of women this year alone, White Ribbon will be working closely with the Australian community, this Friday November 23 to end men’s violence against women.

One woman a week is murdered at the hands of a current or former partner. White Ribbon Day raises awareness of men’s violence against women and how to prevent it in your community.

This year’s theme is ‘Together, we can end men’s violence against women in our community,’ with hundreds of events held across Australia.

White Ribbon Day encourages communities and individuals to take a stand and speak out and act to stop domestic violence and abuse.

Domestic violence can occur across all age, socioeconomic and demographic groups, but predominantly affects women and children.

1 in 6 women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former partner and 1 in 5 women have been sexually assaulted and/or threatened.

1 in 4 women have experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner however for a long time many communities did not consider emotional abuse to be domestic violence. Emotional abuse is now recognised under domestic and family violence.

While anyone can be affected by domestic violence, some groups are more vulnerable than others. Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander women, young women, pregnant women, women with disabilities, women with financial hardships and those that experienced or witnessed domestic violence as children.

Currently 1 in 4 young people think it’s pretty normal for guys to pressure girls into sex and 1 and 3 young people don’t think controlling someone is a form of violence. Learning the signs of an abusive relationship is important for young people to recognise if they or a friend is in an abuse situation.

Focusing on primary prevention – stopping violence before it occurs; White Ribbon’s 16,000 strong national movement works tirelessly every day to deliver prevention programs in communities, schools and workplaces.

By challenging deeply ingrained attitudes and social norms, the primary prevention programs aim to address the root causes of violence and highlight the important role men can play in stopping violence against women.

White Ribbon Australia, engage men to make women’s safety a man’s issue too.

Encouraging men to speak to other men about violence helps to create a social change necessary to prevent men’s violence against women. Through education and prevention programs, men are provided with the tools to stop violence against women in their community and beyond.

Originally held on November 25, alongside the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, this year’s White Ribbon Day is held two days earlier to help maximise impact for both events.

A number of events for White Ribbon Day continue across Australia even after this Friday.