Last updated by charlotte.lang@essex.gov.uk on Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Violence experienced by women and girls takes many forms. Some behaviours and words may seem ‘harmless’ but normalising them ignores the short- and long-term effects on women and can lead to more extreme violence.

• 1 in 4 girls in mixed-sex schools have had experiences of unwanted sexual touching in school.
• 6 in 10 women have felt harassed in the gym by a man.
• 1.7 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2022.

Violence against women and girls is not a women’s issue. However, it’s often portrayed as one. This is due to the way women have long been responsible for navigating threats to their own safety. The first step to take to #ChangeTheStory is to understand that women and girls live with a fear of violence – and a threat of this fear of violence — that men do not.

White Ribbon Day aims to #ChangeTheStory for women and girls, so that they may live their lives free from the fear of violence.