A letter from the Chair: White Ribbon Night

White Ribbon Night is an exciting new initiative in the critical strategy to engage the Australian community in the prevention of men’s violence against women.  The White Ribbon Night is encouraging people to “have a night in to get the word out” about the seriousness of the issue of violence against women in Australia.  Sadly, for many women and children, the home is not a safe place.  In Australia at least one woman is killed every week by a current or former partner.  And one in four young Australians witness violence against their mother. This night is about focusing attention on this issue while having a fun night in, to help us raise funds to support research and enhance the work being done to prevent violence against women before it occurs.

White Ribbon Australia is breaking new ground as it moves forward in an attempt to engage with more men in men’s spaces.  An exciting, challenging and a few say controversial element of the White Ribbon Night is the engagement with the major retailer, the Woolworths Liquor Group.  White Ribbon Australia sees this as entering a space that is a male domain and it presents us with an opportunity to engage with men where it matters.  The arrangement provides White Ribbon Australia with a national retail merchandising opportunity and, at the same time, provides an opportunity for the Woolworths Liquor Group to demonstrate its commitment to saying No to Violence against Women.  The partnership is all about the No to Violence against Women message.   Importantly, there are no funds/profits from the sale of alcohol supporting White Ribbon Australia.

White Ribbon Australia is Australia’s only national male led campaign to prevent men’s violence against women.  The White Ribbon Night is an extension of White Ribbon Australia’s commitment to engaging men in preventing violence.  The broader campaign is now in its tenth year and White Ribbon Australia is a significant player in the Australian field of primary prevention of men’s violence against women.  White Ribbon Australia has worked hard to grow the Campaign,  to engage good men in driving positive social change, to acknowledge and pay tribute to the activity across the community including the many community and women’s groups who, over the years, have focused attention on the issue of violence against women.  White Ribbon acknowledges that stopping violence at a community level shouldn’t be an obligation on women to keep themselves safe, but a responsibility of the community, and particularly of men, to not commit violence, and to show leadership in promoting community safety.

White Ribbon Australia’s approach has been built on research and action from across the globe.  It is based on models of prevention such as those articulated by VicHealth and the WHO Ecological Model of Prevention. These provide a paradigm for engaging men in ending men’s violence against women.  The salient action of the White Ribbon Campaign in Australia is to change the attitudes and behaviours based on the constructs of masculinity relating to power and control that perpetuate this violence.  As the research indicates, issues relating to male privilege and control are critical factors predicting perpetration of men’s violence against women.

White Ribbon works from an evidence base to inform innovative approaches to engage men in primary prevention.  Each year White Ribbon analyses strategies that will better engage men to become positive influencers in this social change space. This issue is so important, so pervasive, and so damaging that every man has a potential role in stopping violence.  The campaign draws on good men to speak out, stand up, drive change and give up being passive bystanders.

The White Ribbon Australia Campaign and its approach were applauded at the recent United Nations Commission of the Status of Women in New York and the progress being made in Australia highly acclaimed. The approach was also acknowledged as world first by Dr Jackson Katz at the recent International White Ribbon Conference in Sydney.

The Have a Night in to Get the Word Out on Friday 26 July was chosen as a strategy for the engagement of men following extensive research on a number of levels: the link between alcohol and violence; an understanding of the factors that predict the perpetration of men’s violence against women; and market research on how to best engage men and challenge current behaviours.

So, “have a night in to get the word out” about the seriousness of the issue of violence against women in Australia.  Enjoy your night in events, big and small, and help us to get on with the job of tackling this scourge in our society.

Lt Gen. Ken Gillespie (RTD)

Chair