March to support victims
Domestic violence can no longer be seen as a “private” matter.
That is one of the key messages behind tomorrow’s Reclaim the Night march in Albany.
Everyone in Albany is invited to march as one to take a stance against violence towards women.
While violence is not limited to female victims, women in Australia are nearly three times more likely than men to experience violence by an intimate partner.
This year’s theme is “the personal is political” and there is a confronting reason behind it.
Joanna Fictoor of the Albany Family and Domestic Violence Action Group said the theme highlighted that violence against women could not be viewed as a private matter.
“Women’s personal experience of violence is the result of broader social and political systems that support gender inequality and tolerate gender-based violence,” she said.
“As a community we need to have open conversations about the root causes of violence against women in our society and the collective action needed to prevent it.
“While not all men are violent, the vast majority of violence against women is at the hands of men, and patriarchy and the belief in rigid gender roles underpins this violence.”
The organisers of the march want people to know that violence is not only physical.
They said it included psychological, economic, emotional and sexual violence and abuse, as well as a range of controlling and intimidating behaviours.
The Reclaim the Night event will start at the Albany Town Square at 6.30pm.
The march to Anzac Peace Park will start at 6.50pm. Community groups are encouraged to dress in uniform and bring a banner with an anti-violence message.
See the AFDVAG Facebook page for details.
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