22 November 2013

Waitakere community joins forces to combat violence towards women

Waitakere public and community groups will join forces to combat violence towards women at the annual White Ribbon Day Parade on Monday 25 November. White Ribbon Day is an annual international day when men are encouraged to wear a white ribbon to show that they do not condone violence towards women.

“This is an opportunity for the people of Waitakere to have a voice,” says spokesperson and manager of the family violence prevention network WAVES Tiaria Fletcher.

“The recent Roast Busters controversy makes this year’s parade especially significant.

“Our community in the West is deeply saddened by the violation of some of our young women by a few of our young men. We came together last week as a combined sector of family and sexual violence agencies and others to ask ourselves what can we do? We know that too many of our men hold harmful attitudes toward women and that this needs to change.

“As a community we are committed to developing strategies to address these attitudes, and working alongside police in addressing the barriers that have sometimes prevented victims coming forward.

“This year’s White Ribbon Day Parade provides an opportunity to focus on these issues and continue our discussions about what we can do to address these issues.”

The White Ribbon Day Parade commences at Waitakere Hospital at 1.00pm, makes its way along Lincoln Rd onto Great North Road through the Henderson shopping centre, and finishes at Falls Park. Dignatories attending this year’s parade include:
• Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse;
• White Ribbon Ambassador Awen Guttenbeil;
• Judge David Mather
• Waitakere student Paretapu Waru.

The parade will also feature performances from local young people and speeches from Waitakere secondary school and university students.

“We believe that we need to begin talking to young people early about issues like relationships, sexuality and violence. The internet has given this generation of teenagers unedited access to pornography and other material that degrades and dehumanises women.

“Having young people involved in this year’s parade is an especially important aspect of proceedings.”

ENDS

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