WHITE RIBBON INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE TO BECOME A BIENNIAL EVENT

Following the success of the inaugural White Ribbon International Conference,  White Ribbon Australia is pleased to announce the conference will become a biennial event, the next to be held in 2015.

Earlier this month, hundreds of delegates from around Australia and across the world - including key researchers, practitioners, policy makers and activists - converged in Sydney to showcase research, policies and programs that work to change the attitudes that perpetuate men’s violence against women.

The theme of the 2013 conference was Global to Local: Preventing Men’s Violence against Women – Research, Policy and Practice in One Space. The three-day conference was a diverse international arena, which gave attendees the opportunity to engage in research, policy and practice, globally and locally.

The conference aim was to enhance understanding of the causes of men’s violence and explore strategies of engagement to address this violence.  The conference, in providing a global to local perspective, challenged us all on the constructs and paradigms that influence these strategies and our ensuing preventative action. The outstanding keynote speakers provided critical analysis of the causes, impacts, strategies and evidenced best practice in tackling this insidious violence. The plenary panels and concurrent sessions allowed for discussion of research and action in this space in greater depth. 

Throughout, we heard about how best to take these understandings and learnings into our work as agents of change, as by-standers that can make a difference, work that as Jackson Katz said, ‘transcends the workplace’.  But it is also imperative that we utilise the context and authority of the workplace to further progress this work – on the sporting field, in our institutions, the corporate board room and other spheres of influence. The final panel shared valuable knowledge and recommendations on how to activate the media and reach the much-needed critical mass. 

Perhaps the most important outcome of the conference is that White Ribbon Australia envisages participants are going back to their workplaces, communities, to their respective spheres of influence, with renewed motivation and capacity to drive normative change. It is White Ribbon Australia's hope that the Conference will help us all to continue to drive positive change for women and children in Australia and perhaps even in other parts of the globe.

White Ribbon Australia CEO, Libby Davies, said: “It allowed delegates to be part of the critical dialogue between research, policy, primary and tertiary prevention; help build productive relationships with primary prevention; better position its place in social policy; and demonstrate our total commitment to social change.”

Date and venue details for the 2015 conference will be announced at the end of 2013, with a call for abstracts to go out in mid-2014. To receive regular updates, sign up for our newsletter at www.whiteribbon.org.au.

 

Please click here for a list of available presentations from the 2013 conference.