Shaping Portsmouth has long been a supporter of any initiative that helps us protect the most vulnerable in our local society. We were involved with the Safer Streets project, as well as the Stay Safe initiative where we were asked to manage the project to help safeguard those women who work in our night-time economy.
When we were asked to support the White Ribbon Promise by Annabel Innes, Creative Director of FORM+FUNCTION, it was easy to agree to do it and we are proud to have been asked.
The White Ribbon promise is the brainchild of Chris Green, and the mission is to prevent violence against women and girls by addressing its root causes. Their aim is to change long-established, and harmful, attitudes, systems and behaviours around masculinity that perpetuate gender inequality and men’s violence against women. White Ribbon UK’s work is preventative, they simply want to end violence before it starts.
Annabel says “In place of a traditional advent campaign, we’ve chosen to highlight the White Ribbon Promise by celebrating 25 Portsmouth businesses throughout December whose male staff are taking an active role in preventing violence against women and girls. Women’s ability to operate in the world (including Portsmouth where cases of abuse are on the rise) without fear of male violence is a non-negotiable human right – one which we need everyone’s help to establish.”
Stef Nienaltowski, our CEO, said “In signing the promise I will be wearing the ribbon everywhere I go and see it as part of my duty to communicate the purpose of this to as many people as I can. If you are coming to our conference in January, it would be great to see you wearing this ribbon as it’s a wonderful initiative”
If you want to make the promise too then sign up at whiteribbon.org.uk