White Ribbon campaign underway

The 2012 White Ribbon campaign is underway. The week-long White Ribbon Ride was launched in Rotorua on Saturday, at a family event by the lake. The motorbike ride began in 2009 and travels to more than 80 communities including Wanaka and Balclutha. Yesterday in Wellington, students from 14 schools performed a "rolling haka" along an Upper Hutt street as the motorcyclists passed through.

White Ribbon Day is on 25 November 2012. It was started by a group of men in Canada after 14 women were murdered at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989. For an article by Michael Kaufman, 'The Day the White Ribbon Campaign Changed the Game: A New Direction in Working to Engage Men and Boys', click here.

25 November is also the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Thie year, White Ribbon events will be held around New Zealand, including Taranaki and Tauranga. Events are listed here and resources can be ordered here. Mayors around the country have taken the pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence towards women. This year's campaign includes messages about non-physical violence and the slogan "Are you man enough to stand up against violence against women?"

Tim Metcalfe, executive officer of Jigsaw Whanganui, said there were some who would talk up violence perpetrated by women, "but our local data, at least, shows that 80 per cent of the police call-outs to violent events were men exercising abuse and violence toward women," he said.

"It's very rare that you encounter a man who spends 24/7 looking after his own safety. For women caught up in this violence it means they're spending every moment attending to their own safety."

'Campaign helps reduce violence toward women', NZ Herald, 13/11/12