Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary marks White Ribbon Day to end male violence against women and girls

White Ribbon Day (November 25, 2022) is the largest global initiative to end male violence against women and girls by calling on men and boys to take action to make a difference.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary is supporting White Ribbon Day and the following 16 days of action to end male violence against women and girls.

Senior leaders, officers and staff across our organisation will be wearing a white ribbon and making the promise ‘never to commit, excuse or remain silent about male violence against women.’

But this is more than about ‘just 16 days - we will not stop after the days of action and will continue our work to tackle the perpetrators of violence towards women.

We are coordinating our response towards Violence Against Women and Girls and looking at key areas of pursuing perpetrators, making safer spaces and improving trust and confidence in policing.

Chief Superintendent Raj Kohli, Violence Against Women and Girls Programme Lead, said: “As a Constabulary we have prided ourselves on making a meaningful difference in the areas of high harm and vulnerability across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight – especially in our towns and cities where there is a vibrant night time economy, which unfortunately brings its challenges when it comes to violence against women and girls.

“White Ribbon Day begins on the same week of the FIFA Men’s World Cup and as such, there has never been a better time for us as a police force – us as local members of the communities that we serve and beyond – to come together and achieve the goal – to end violence against women and girls.

“For too long women and girls have been subjected to high harm and inappropriate behaviours – and we continue to recognise this and are committed to taking robust action when necessary to identify perpetrators and bring them to justice; all while ensuring that victims are supported by our officers and local commissioned support services.

"But it is not just about violence – we recognise the need to step forward and deal with behaviours ranging from wolf whistling at school girls through to the predatory behaviour of men in the night time economy.

“We must recognise, that major societal and cultural changes like this requires not just the police, but support across all sectors – however, we want to reassure Hampshire and Isle of Wight residents that we can, and want to be, absolutely leading the way on this very important issues.”

This year, White Ribbon Day is focussing on #TheGoal; all men can join the team to end violence against women and girls – working together to ‘help create a world of equality and safety for women’.

We can all make a commitment today by making the White Ribbon Promise never to use, excuse or remain silent about men’s violence against women -
https://www.whiteribbon.org.uk/promise.