Invest in prevention, invest in women

International Women’s Day 2024: Listen, learn and invest in women with primary prevention

International Women’s Day 2024 is about investing in women to advance social and economic development. The best way to do this is to focus on radical culture change through primary prevention.

By White Ribbon UK

International Women's Day, 8th March, is a global celebration of the achievements of women. This annual jubilation is tempered by a sombre recognition of the barriers that have kept many from achieving success.

With this in mind, we take up our annual appeal to men: This is a time to listen and create space for women’s voices.

At White Ribbon UK, we believe we can end men’s violence against women in our lifetimes by addressing its root causes: harmful masculine traits and gender norms. For this reason, we often say that it starts with men. But what does that mean exactly? Achieving gender equality starts with men taking deliberate action to challenge everyday sexism and misogynistic attitudes, to question negative perceptions of what it means to ‘be a man.’

This is because we understand that violence against women is not a women’s issue, despite dominant and persistent narratives that continue to frame it as one. To stop violence from ever occurring, men must be active allies — and women’s voices need to be at the centre of this allyship.

For men, International Women’s Day should be a day for listening and reflecting. March 8th is not about taking over the conversation; it’s about taking responsibility.  

This year the United Nations is focusing on how investing in women — starting with their safety — is crucial to accelerating progress across societies. We know that primary prevention is the best way to meaningfully invest in women in the long term. As a primary prevention charity working with nearly 400 organisations and many thousands of men to stop violence before it starts, we know just how much communities benefit when they prioritise a proactive, community-wide approach to gender equality.

This International Women’s Day, we look forward to listening to the stories women choose to share and creating space for the campaigns and letters from organisations that champion for women’s safety and their rights.

SILENT BUT NOT ABSENT. Why do we do this?

Too often women’s experiences of violence aren’t heard or are dismissed. A crucial part of White Ribbon UK’s prevention work is to educate men and boys on the continuum of violence, which explains how sexist and misogynistic attitudes, behaviours and words create space for extreme instances of violence to occur in our society.  

For those looking to follow-up this time of listening with action, we encourage all men and boys to make the White Ribbon Promise and to consider becoming an Ambassador.