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Speaking up means setting the right example, for our friends and our children. It’s about calling out behaviours early, before they escalate, and showing that silence isn’t the default. Change starts with the conversations we choose to have.

Daniel, Hampton Trust Trustee

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Each year, White Ribbon Day reminds me that violence against women and girls isn’t just something that happens in the news headlines and the media — it happens every single day in homes, workplaces, schools, and everyday conversations. It’s also a reminder that abuse is not just a physical act. It’s in the way women are interrupted, ignored, controlled, or made to feel unsafe. It’s also in the silence when someone crosses a line and no one is willing to speak up. My first understandings began as a boy in a predominantly female household, but it was as a teenager in high school where I was consciously confronted by it through music. Listening to female-fronted bands like Hole, Garbage, Veruca Salt, and Alanis Morissette (only a small sample) taught me to hear women’s anger, pain, and resilience in a new way. For example, Courtney Love’s ferocious lyrics for Hole’s “Live Through This” faced the realities of domestic abuse and emotional control, while “Celebrity Skin” exposed how women are judged, consumed, and dismissed — not just in fame, but in everyday life. Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill gave voice to millions of women experiencing misogyny, abuse and frustration that paved the way for an almost global healing, showing that women speaking their truth and opening up about their experiences of violence and abuse is its own act of defiance. For boys and men who listened, they were transformed. The songs of my formative years made me see how everyday sexism feeds a culture that tolerates violence, and they have stayed by my side through the rest of my life thus far. They taught me that as a man, I have a choice every day — to stay silent, or to speak up. Real change starts in the moments no one is watching, and we all have a responsibility to be the change we want to see in this world. A place where everyone should be able to live free from abuse in all forms.

Andrew, CARA Co-ordinator

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On White Ribbon Day, I reflect on how I am able to help prevent violence against women and girls— mentoring men in healthy relationships, training as a facilitator, and applying those lessons in my own life and relationships. On-site in the construction industry it’s a case of challenging disrespect and stereotypical views, supporting and informing men by promoting healthier ways of behaviour and communication.

Violence prevention isn’t just what ‘you’ do or how ‘you’ try to influence and encourage others — it’s a lifelong process of self-awareness and good conduct.

Darren, Pathways to Change peer mentor

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Speaking up is about refusing to stand by and take the ‘quiet option’ when other people - specifically women and girls - are being treated inappropriately in spaces around you (offline and online).

James, Hampton Trust Trustee

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White Ribbon Day's relevance has never been more apparent than in 2025. Male voices and actions to help reduce violence, risk and harm, by not being passive about what they see and hear, are imperative, if we are to make any real dent in the massive problem that is domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, particularly in the current era of the internet and AI on the horizon.

Enabling men to feel as though they can say and do something is hard to achieve, and one of the key facets of that process is to hear the male voice in this. This means trusting and acknowledging that most men aren't violent and abusive and don't act this way and don't want to be around those who do. Enabling that powerful voice to be better heard would be a good starting point on getting a more vocal position from men in general, so generating some badly needed 'ground up' energy that currently isn't in play.

Chris, Hampton Trust DA Practitioner

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The United Nations' 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence 2025 focuses on highlighting the abuse women face online, and the lack of legal protection they have against this form of abuse. You can read more about the campaign here: https://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/16-days-of-activism

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Nearly  one in three women experience violence in their lifetime. Girls are at particular risk of violence- 1 in 4 adolescent girls is abused by their partners.

For thousands of women, the cycle of gender-based violence ended with one final and brutal act-their murder by partners and family members.

Femicide  (or feminicide) is the intentional killing of a women or girl because of her gender. It is a universal problem, and the most brutal, visible, and extreme manifestation of the cycle of gender-based violence that women and girls endure.

Violence against women and girls can and must be prevented.

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16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

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Every 10 minutes, partners and family members killed a woman intentionally in 2023. The crisis of gender-based violence is urgent. There is #NoExcuse for violence against women and girls.

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As men we have to not only be respectful ourselves, but learn to be ready to intervene in something that isn’t right, or doesn’t look right. I need to show up in a way I can be proud of, that my daughter would also be proud of.

Pathways to Change client

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As a father, speaking up against violence and abuse of women and girls means standing up for the kind of world I want my daughters to grow up in — one where they know their voice matters, they are respected, and their safety is never compromised.

Steve, Hampton Trust Finance Director

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We have to respect and appreciate the women who we come into contact with, and make sure men are making spaces safe and being ready to speak out when that’s not happening.

Pathways to Change client

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It’s important that men talk to other men who understand the impact of the patriarchy, and can talk about privilege in a way that has a different impact from one man to another, and make a positive impact on their lives and everyone surrounding them.

Andrew, DA Services Practitioner

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In previous roles, I worked with key partners to tackle VAWG - by supporting women and girls in improving public safety, but also commissioning work in schools to help change young men's views of women at a time when there were many negative social media influences. The effect of domestic abuse goes beyond the immediate victim - it affects children who witness the abuse, and it is unfortunately hugely common for young people to have lived through this experience. Working with men to change behaviours, attitudes and beliefs is key to the future elimination of VAWG.

Chris, Hampton Trust Trustee

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Speaking up for me means contributing to creating an environment in everyday life where equality and respect are the norm and unhealthy attitudes and behaviours towards women are things of the past.

Anthony, Hampton Trust Trustee