What you can do

It’s up to you. It’s up to me. It’s up to us.
There is something you can do to help put an end to violence against women.

• Challenge stereotypes
• Call out sexist attitudes
• Speak out if you hear excuses for violence or victim blaming
• Spread the word that violence is never an option or a solution and there is NO excuse
• Acknowledge respect and equality when you see it
• Celebrate our role models

This is part of OurWatch.org.au – Australia’s national campaign to encourage individuals, communities and organisation to stand and work together, to change attitudes and make a difference.

Please share the above video.

Think about what you can do.

Be an active bystander on your watch!

‘The Invisible Discriminator’ Stop. Think. Respect.

Life’s demands have kept me from this blog, but amidst looming deadlines I feel this campaign by beyondblue is far too important and pivotal to ignore sharing here….

How often have we all been silent discriminators?

STOP

THINK

RESPECT

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.  #stopthinkrespect

Racism is everybody’s responsibility and you can make the change!

#NotBuyingIt App … let the media know sexism won’t sell

Ever see things in the media or on store shelves that just get under your skin?   Well, here is an initiative from The Representation Project that will let you share your disapproval and begin a campaign to send a strong message to producers that you won’t be buying/reading/using their sexist product.   Let the media know: sexism won’t sell.

Use #NotBuyingIt on Twitter to challenge the misrepresentation of women and girls. Download the App today.

For more information: www.therepresentationproject.org/notbuyingit

Send a message of hope this Christmas

http://www.newdaybox.org

New Day Box – a group of creative women on a mission to make a difference.  Join them and send a message of hope to hundreds of women and children who will be in crisis accommodation this Christmas due to family violence.

Make a Box of goodies or make a donation… visit their website www.newdaybox.org and be inspired to do something too!

Australia has a secret…..

Help uncover Australia’s secrets and stop violence against women.

Watch this powerful clip by White Ribbon Australia and learn more about the insidious problem of violence against women in Australia.

Take the Oath this White Ribbon Day, 25 November and swear never to commit or remain silent about violence against women.

More information can be found at www.whiteribbon.org.au

The Girl Declaration

Inspirational… the Girl Declaration… by The Girl Effect  

Girls were left out of the original Millennium Development Goals. The Girl Declaration has been written to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Please read it…

The Goals

1. EDUCATION: Girls reach adulthood with relevant skills and knowledge to participate in economic, social and cultural life.
2. HEALTH: Girls have access to appropriate health services and possess the confidence to make healthy transitions to adulthood.
3. SAFETY: Girls are free from violence and exploitation and are supported by enforced laws, child protection systems and their communities.
4. ECONOMIC SECURITY: Girls can build and protect their economic assets and earn a safe income. Governments, communities and the private sector uphold girls’ economic rights.
5. CITIZENSHIP: Girls have equal access to services, opportunities, legal rights and personal freedom, and are able to fully participate as citizens of their communities.

Why can’t we see it?

“It’s our culture and we can change what’s “normal” if it’s damaging and senseless” Victorian Police Commissioner, Ken Lay, once again brings the topic of violence against women to the fore. Why does it take a prominent male in uniform to stand up and suggest our culture needs to change?  Why can’t we see it?  Why are we blind to the damage?

Another women dies at the hands of a male partner or former partner and we take only the briefest interest.  “Oh it has nothing to do with me, it’s not my problem” we say.  Well actually it is!

It is our problem.  This is our society, so we are responsible.  We need to say “this is not ok”. This type of behaviour is not acceptable.  It is not ok for a male to exert power, control and fear over a women.  The causes of these attitudes of power stem from sexist attitudes and behaviours, attitudes of entitlement, and seeing women as inferior.  They make our culture what it is.  A gender inequitable society.

We need to break down these attitudes and create culture change.  We need gender equaulity in our culture. Take a moment to see the gender inequaulity around you.

• Our culture values women for their looks.  Females are so often objectified for their bodies. Semi naked women are used to sell products.  How many semi naked men do you see selling products?  Is that fair?
• Unequal proportion of women politics:  Men far outnumber Women.  Is that fair? Yet when there is a female Prime Minister, society feels it is ok to criticise her for her clothes, shoes and even ‘what her Father is feeling!’. Does our society do the same for men in the same position? Is that fair?
• Sexist and discriminatory jokes denigrate women.  Is that fair?

For a great summary of sexism and its connection to violence watch this short video.

If you want to make a change in our cultural behaviours and attitudes, here are some things that you can do:

• Stop catcalling women.
• Don’t laugh at sexist jokes.
• Question gender roles – do what is equal in your relationships, not what your gender says you should do. Share the housework and the caring.
• Don’t excuse violence or sexism – say ‘hey mate, that’s not ok!

Gender equality and attitude change is necessary in changing our culture.  Look for gender inequity and make a change today.

Week without Violence 14-20 Oct

Follow on Twitter  #WeekWithoutViolence  a worldwide campaign to encourage communities to think and act towards a world without family violence.

Be active ..  talk about the issue.  Seek support. Break the silence.

See what they’re doing in Melbourne

Will you Stand Up?

DigitalPrevention has a mission:  to spread innovation and creativity in the form of digital prevention of violence against women material and resources.

 

DigitalPrevention’s aim is to become a ‘bouncing board’, to review and ricochet out to the rest of the world via the World Wide Web.  To keep the flow of information going to those who will use it for the elimination of violence against women and girls, and for the fight for gender equity and an end to sexism.

You see 1 out of 3 women in Australia have experienced some form of violence at the hands of a partner or previous intimate partner (White Ribbon, p.1, 2009).  And one woman a week dies as a result of family violence (White Ribbon, p.3, 2009).  So this is a very real issue. Violence against women is something that our society needs to address as a whole.

What about men I hear you ask? Well..

“Men are much less likely than women to be subjected to violent incidents in the home and are more likely to be assaulted in public places. Violence against men is far more likely to be by strangers and far less likely to involve partners or ex-partners.” (White Ribbon, p.3, 2008).

You see men’s violence against women is steeped in the gender imbalance and inequity found in our society (Vic Health, p.1, 2011).  It is about power and control and men’s sense of entitlement to that power.

DigitalPrevention will share with you digital resources to empower and educate, and to help make a change. We all have a role to play in changing the cultural norms and inappropriate behaviours we see and experience every day.  Let’s start by standing up and being active bystanders to sexism, gender inequity and violence against women.

White Ribbon Day, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 25 November, is fast approaching.  This campaign started after a man in Montreal massacred 14 female University classmates in 1989.  In 1999, a small group of Toronto men initiated the now worldwide campaign.  The United Nations declared 25 November an International day of recognition in 1999 and Australia has been involved since 2007.

White Ribbon Day focuses on empowering men in our communities to step up and say no to violence, to swear the oath “never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women” (White Ribbon Aust)

Will you stand up and be the change?

Where life takes you…

I fell into it really.  A bit like ‘Alice falling down the rabbit’s hole’.  Unexpected, so out of the blue.  With an aversion to conflict and being the eternal peacemaker, I would never have intentionally selected this road.

It’s funny that life has other ideas sometimes and you must trust that all will be ok.  And it has, of course it has….  That was several years ago now.  My study journey had just begun and my children were settled, it was time to focus on my own career and personal development.

I had just landed myself a job in the organisation I had dreamed about. I had visualised it.  I expected it and it had happened.

It’s just that, well.. it was working in Family Violence.  Okay, well I could give it a go I guess.  Will it be too tough, too harsh and too emotional?  Will I cope?  At times it has been confronting, but I’m not at the coal face like so many fabulous people, supporting those experiencing the violence in their lives.  No, I am in a more logistic, strategic role.  But never the less I feel a sense of satisfaction that I am helping.  And through this blog I can help some more.

So you see my interest in family violence and the prevention of violence has grown from professional to personal.  This is an issue that impacts so many lives:   those lives are Our mothers, Our friends, Our sisters, Our daughters……perhaps even Your mother, Your friend, Your sister or Your daughter.

I certainly have friends and family who have been through very difficult situations and I am sure you know someone who has been touched by the harsh pain of Domestic Violence, Rape, Sexism or an act of violence.   We need to join together, to stand up to attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate discrimination and gender inequality, because that is at the core of violence against women.

What makes me blog about something I get paid to do? I feel passionate about making a difference.  My activist ‘got to do something’ nature drives me to not be silent, but to join the noise of injustice and create a ripple effect that will create change via the digital world we have at our fingertips.

So please join me on DigitalPrevention and together we will ‘Keep Calm & Prevent Violence’.