White Ribbon Day takes place on Monday 25 November. White Ribbon Day works to engage men and boys in speaking out about violence against women and girls, and to challenge gender stereotypes underpinning such violence.
Monday 25 November also marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which starts 16 Days of Action. This ends on Tuesday 10 December – Human Rights Day.
This year the theme is ‘It starts with Men’; we can prevent violence against women and girls. It starts with me. It starts with men.
White Ribbon Day is encouraging men and boys to hold themselves accountable to women and to each other, so we can affect positive behaviour change to transform harmful cultures.
Today the council is flying the White Ribbon flag at the Guildhall. The council will also be lighting up the Guildhall orange this evening to mark the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
On Monday 2 December (10am to 2.30pm), the council is hosting a Domestic Abuse conference at the Meadows Community Centre, Arbury Road, Cambridge, CB4 2JL. If you are interested in attending, you need to register online by 12pm on Wednesday 27 November. Please only book yourself into one of the breakout sessions.
The conference is free and open to the public to raise awareness, with a range of attendees including those with lived experience as well as professionals.
Sessions on the day will include:
- interactive workshops from local services Cambridge Women’s Aid and Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre, using AI to improve survivor experience in the criminal justice system, and tackling child and adolescent to parent violence and abuse (CAPVA)
- a panel discussion on the importance of relationship education with Landlark and Cambridge United Foundation
- hearing from Loving Me, who work with trans and non-binary victims of domestic abuse
- Karma Nirvana – supporting victims of honour crimes and forced marriage
- discussion about the White Ribbon Campaign theme for 2024 ‘It starts with men’, with Leader of Cambridge City Council and White Ribbon Ambassador, Cllr Mike Davey.
Tackling violence against women and girls in Cambridge
Cambridge City Council works with partners across Cambridgeshire to support those experiencing domestic abuse and sexual violence and help to prevent these crimes.
The council is part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (DASV) Partnership, and the Cambridge Community Safety Partnership, and works closely with Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre and Cambridge Women’s Aid.
Domestic abuse can affect anyone and isn’t just physical violence. There are support services available to help you. For help and advice, please look at the advice available or email the council’s community safety team: community.safety@cambridge.gov.uk.
White Ribbon Matchday
On Saturday 16 November, Cambridge United dedicated their match to raising awareness about the White Ribbon campaign.
The council’s Community Safety team and our White Ribbon Ambassadors held a stall in the North Habbin Fan Zone on the day of the match and spoke to the club fans about the White Ribbon Day and advice and support available in the city.
Cllr Cameron Holloway, Executive Councillor for Community Safety, Homelessness and Wellbeing was helping out at the stall and said, “We had a great time promoting the White Ribbon campaign to end male violence against women and girls at Cambridge United v Barnsley.
“It was really encouraging to see lots of men pledging to not commit or tolerate violence against women and girls, and particularly touching that one man came up to us at half time and said we'd made him reflect on his own behaviour - hopefully, we had a similar effect on others.
“A huge thank you to the Cambridge United for their support of this work."
Cambridge United Foundation (CUF) has formed a pioneering partnership with Pledge United to deliver the UK’s first programme of its type aimed at tackling discrimination and violence against women and girls.
Working in local schools, the project uses football to challenge the culture around gender issues and create a safe place for all. The project is supported by the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Cambridge Community Safety Partnership and Cambridge City Council.
16 Days of Action
During the 16 Day of Action DASV Partnership have a series of free online webinars which you can attend – book your place at online:
- Supporting survivors of DA with Visual Impairment – Thursday 28 November, 10am to 1pm
- Post-separation Abuse – Monday 2 December 10am to 11 am
- Supporting survivors with Learning Disabilities – Tuesday 3 December 12.30pm to 1.30pm
- Controlling and Coercive Behaviour – Thursday 5 December, 12pm to 1pm
- Economic Abuse of Older People – Monday 9 December, 10am to 11am
- Harmful Practices – Tuesday 10 December, 1pm to 4.30pm.
What can you do?
Preventing violence against women and girls requires everyone to work together but it starts with men. There is a range of things you can do to help tackle negative attitudes and behaviours towards women:
- think about your behaviour and those of your friends and colleagues. Where safe to, challenge unacceptable behaviour and positively influence other men and boys to become allies
- become a White Ribbon Ambassador to make a positive difference in your workplace or community.
