What is White Ribbon Day?

White Ribbon Day was created by a handful of Canadian men in 1991 on the second anniversary of one man’s massacre of 14 women in Montreal. They began the White Ribbon Campaign to urge men to speak out against violence against women.

In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 25 the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) and the White Ribbon has become the symbol for the day.

From 2000, the Commonwealth Government Office for Women ran awareness activities on the International Day, and, in 2003, the Australian branch of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM, began a partnership with men and men’s organisations to make this a national campaign. VMWS has supported White Ribbon Day since 2005, promoting the day on our website, through our publications and by distributing White Ribbons at our Annual General Meeting.

Today hundreds of thousands of white ribbons are worn by men and women across Australia – men at work; men and women in all Australian police forces; men in national and local sporting matches and organisations; men in the media; men and women in politics; men in the defence forces; men and women in capital cities and in rural and regional Australia.

The campaign continues to go from strength to strength and is now marked each year by events across Australia with more organisations and individuals participating year upon year.

Find out more about White Ribbon Day by visiting http://whiteribbonday.org.au.

Guidelines on the management of intimate partner violence

Why Wear a White Ribbon?

By buying and wearing a White Ribbon, you will be playing an important role in White Ribbon Day by increasing community awareness of the need to prevent violent and abusive relationships. A White Ribbon is not a badge of purity or perfection. It simply says you believe that violence against women is unacceptable.