White Ribbon Day

This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council on behalf of Slough Children First for the attention of all schools.  

White Ribbon Day

Safer Slough Partnership is the Community Safety Partnership tackling Violence and Exploitation across Slough. We’re supporting the 16 Days of Activism between 25 November (White Ribbon Day) to 10 December (Human Rights Day) to raise awareness of male violence against women and girls.

White Ribbon’s work is preventative, aiming to prevent men’s violence before it can begin. They work to positively change harmful cultures, attitudes and behaviours so that all women and girls can live without the fear of violence or harassment.

While it is crucial to acknowledge that men can also be victims of domestic abuse, the campaigns aim to address the disproportionate impact of male violence on women, which is deeply rooted in societal power dynamics and historical contexts that often render women more vulnerable.

This White Ribbon Day 2024, we’re encouraging men to hold themselves and their peers accountable. Gender equality is achievable if men and boys understand and assume their responsibility as allies. We can prevent violence against women and girls. It Starts with Men.

 

The reality of the lived experience of women and girls across the UK:

  • A woman is murdered by a man every 2.7 days in the UK. (Femicide Census Report 2021)
  • 70% of women in the UK say they have experienced sexual harassment in public. (APPG for UN Women, 2021)
  • 3 in 5 women have experienced sexual harassment, bullying or verbal abuse in the workplace. (Trade Unions Congress, 2023)
  • 15% of women in England, and 17% of women in Wales have experienced online violence. (Professor Olga Jurasz, The Open University, 2024)
  • Nearly a quarter (24%) of girls in mixed sex schools said they had experiences of unwanted sexual touching in school. (EVAW, 2023)
  • 4 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2023. (ONS, 2023)

What is SBC doing?

  • Launched new Domestic Abuse and Serious Violence strategies last month.
  • Community Safety 7 minute briefings – quick-read summaries of ASB, cuckooking, domestic abuse, FGM, honour based abuse, modern slavery and serious violence.
  • Raising awareness of #periodpoverty by providing free sanitary products until 10 December in all women’s bathrooms at Observatory House
  • Daily comms releases on social media.