Fighting fire with fire

While women’s leadership has driven social change in regard to gender-based violence, it is men’s engagement in this change that makes the work of White Ribbon different and complex.  

In Australia, the White Ribbon Campaign engages men, and is inspired and formed by men and women working together to stop violence against women.

White Ribbon is a primary prevention national organisation and its campaign is in its 14th year in Australia. It is built on the WHO Ecological Model of Prevention, and is the only national organisation working to prevent men’s violence against women (VAW) by engaging men to be drivers of change across the community. This is best done through the voices of other men, which is the essence of White Ribbon.

Because violence against women is a man’s issue, and men listen to men, the organisation engages men to influence the attitudes and behaviours of men who commit such violence.

Women and children are denied basic human rights because of gender-based violence. Most of this violence is perpetrated by men. On average, one woman a week dies as a result of intimate partner violence (IPV), which is the leading contributor to death, disability and ill health in women between 15 and 44 years old, and is the main cause of homelessness for women and children. It costs Australia $21.7 billion a year.

Vision and purpose

White Ribbon’s vision is a nation that respects women, and allows them to live in safety free from abuse by men. Our purpose is to engage men to make women’s safety a man’s issue, too. Through education, awareness-raising campaigns, award-winning prevention programs and partnerships, we focus on the positive role men play in preventing male VAW. We try to inspire men to be leaders in changing attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate violence, and to develop with them the strategies and tools need to bring about change.

This complex work includes the White Ribbon Day, White Ribbon Night year-long social-media campaign, the Breaking the Silence schools’ program, a workplace accreditation program and the White Ribbon Ambassadors program.

White Ribbon is a well-established NFP and is a company limited by guarantee and governed by skilled board. It is served by a professional, capable, passionate team, and 80 to 85 per cent of income goes into primary prevention with a focus on developing community leadership capability to drive positive social change. We work hard to walk the talk of change, with our values being courage, integrity, respect, collaboration and leadership.

During the past four years, the campaign profile has escalated as the organisation has quadrupled in size. We have rebuilt and positioned White Ribbon as a professional, leading-edge prevention organisation with a strong community-corporate-government-partnership model with less than 10 per cent government funding.

Hard road

The organisation has built a sustainable model enhanced by corporate partnerships,  developed 75 per cent brand awareness, put in place a social-media reach of 2.5 million a week, increased community engagement 300 per cent, and embedded proven, cutting-edge prevention programs.

It has been a hard road to navigate, and there have been two significant challenges for me as CEO – building a strong, internal working environment, and countering a feminist viewpoint that a campaign led by men to drive social change only perpetuates male privilege, which is responsible for inequality and perpetuation of violence in the first place.

Despite this, I give credit to the selection committee that put in place a female CEO to lead the campaign.  

What makes White Ribbon special is that it works through engaging men about an issue in which men are both part of the problem and the solution. But this work has been built on the amazing efforts of so many women in many parts of the globe to stand up for their rights and to fight for these to be recognised. I am part of that feminist cohort.

I have learnt much from the leadership of others to build capacity and capability across the campaign. This has yielded results, and is an intrinsic part of my own learnt wisdom. And that wisdom is still developing (one of the critical elements of sound leadership is that the training is ongoing).

Also, I am so fortunate to be in a job that I love, for which I have passion, drive and a deep, personal commitment. The death of my daughter’s best friend at eight years old, at the hands of her father 23 years ago, was a devastating trigger that put the epidemic of men’s violence against women firmly on my radar.

Finding the trigger

It led me to this primary prevention work, and a deeper understanding of the link between violence and gender equality. I also understood that to bring about change regarding VAW, we must better engage men.

I love work based on strengths and focused on finding solutions. I like to find the trigger that will galvanise, connect, and produce results. I seek advice and opinions from diverse people, and listen to what they say.

White Ribbon works hard to develop effective collaborations. We ensure our work meets needs without duplicating the efforts of others. Using finite resources wisely is critical to effective leadership, and we have implemented reference and stakeholder groups to inform our work.

We are open to change and challenging the status quo. We are a courageous organisation willing to step into hard places to engage men in a subject that up until lately was very much behind closed doors. We have met criticism because we have done things differently, but our strategies are proving effective.

Driving social change

We base the elements of each year’s campaign focus on social research conducted with men to determine what key messaging will best engage them and deliver traction. And we are building a robust social impact measurement framework bearing witness to my strong belief that we must be able to show we are effective. This is also essential to inspiring those around me to be part of innovative, creative, courageous action that builds strong platforms to drive social change.

White Ribbon Australia continues to entrench itself as a leader in preventing violence against women. Ever-increasing recognition and implementation of our primary prevention programs and campaign initiatives builds knowledge and understanding of VAW across the community. This work acts as a catalyst for community action, particularly through the engagement of men as agents of change.

There are now 35 White Ribbon community committees connecting and driving action to deliver change. We stand beside them to enable and support their actions.

Libby Davies is the CEO of White Ribbon Australia.

This article originally appeared in Third Sector’s June edition of the magazine- subscribe here.