Calling all men in D&G!

The Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women Partnership (DAVAWP), as part of their prevention and awareness activities, are working towards obtaining White Ribbon Accreditation for Dumfries and Galloway so that Dumfries and Galloway can become a White Ribbon Region and are calling all local men to take action against domestic abuse and other forms of violence which mainly affect women and children.

So far, the Dumfries and Galloway White Ribbon Campaign has been supported by the Community Planning Executive Group, the NHS Board and Queen of the South FC, and now the DAVAWP are looking for the support of individual community members.

Gender based violence – domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, forced marriage, so-called “honour” crimes, FGM, commercial sexual exploitation including prostitution and sex trafficking – affects millions of people worldwide; mostly women and girls.

In Scotland, 79% (39,483) of all domestic abuse cases reported to the Police in 2014-2015 involved a man abusing a woman. The Scottish Government estimates that 1 in 5 women in Scotland will suffer some form of abuse in their lifetime; this means that more than 500,000 women in Scotland will be affected.

This is a pattern that we can see all over the world where at least 1 in 3 women suffer physical or sexual violence from a man; this figure translates as 1 billion women worldwide.

The White Ribbon Campaign started in Canada in the 1990s as a response to this worldwide phenomenon and now it’s become an international campaign which provides a platform for men to speak and take action against these forms of violence. Men are encouraged to sign a pledge “to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.”

Daniel McKeever , DAVAWP Vice-Chair said: “Domestic abuse, honour crimes, sexual assault, sex trafficking and other forms of gender based violence should have no place in Scottish society in this day and age. Historically, the majority of the battles against these forms of violence have been fought by women and women’s organisations. Now we need men to join the fight too and contribute to making a fairer society for our daughters, nieces, sisters, granddaughters, girlfriends. Together we can make these forms of violence and their devastating consequences something that will belong to the past; together we can make Dumfries and Galloway fairer and safer.”

People who would like to support the local White Ribbon Campaign can go to www.whiteribbonscotland.org.uk/dandg and sign up online. Once they have registered their support, they can inform the DAVAWP via e-mail at [email protected] so a Dumfries and Galloway White Ribbon badge can be posted to them.

The DAVAWP has also arranged a free training session open to all men in the region who would like to become White Ribbon Speakers. Once trained, the Speakers will be able to raise awareness of gender based violence / violence against women and the White Ribbon Campaign in the workplace and in any other formal or informal settings.

To register their interest, people can e-mail the DAVAWP Team on [email protected] or for more information they can phone 01387 245190.