White Ribbon Day 2025 – We Speak Up
Photo: PIC PR
This year’s theme, We Speak Up, encourages men to speak up against sexism, misogyny and harmful behaviour in everyday situations.
The campaign highlights that speaking up when something feels wrong, even in response to comments or jokes which might seem small, helps stop the culture that normalises violence against women and girls.
Every time someone ignores something that doesn’t feel right, they miss a chance to set a better example.
The campaign features portraits of 16 men who are White Ribbon Ambassadors from different backgrounds, from a firefighter to a lawyer and apprentice, each of them sharing their own reasons for speaking up. We have thousands of Ambassadors committed to speaking up in their communities, raising awareness on harmful definitions of masculinity and promoting positive traits such as empathy and care.
The portraits were taken by Claudia Janke, a London-based artist who has spent more than two decades documenting human rights and women’s equality movements worldwide. Claudia captured these portraits using a traditional instant box camera.
Speaking about the project, Claudia said: "After two decades working on projects highlighting violence against women and girls, I created this project to call men in as allies. Through this work, I finally met men willing to step up, who understood that it starts with them and that it is their responsibility to be part of the change. Hearing their motivations and seeing their commitment was moving and powerful.”
On White Ribbon Day – Tuesday 25 November - we launched the portraits at the public exhibition in Milton Keynes at centre:mk with our Ambassadors, community organisations and local government representatives.
We will be releasing a new portrait and video on our website throughout the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (25 November – 10 December) and check out our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to see the portraits.
The project highlights the importance of speaking up to stop a culture that normalises sexism and can lead to violence against women, showing practical examples of how men can make a difference and to encourage more men to take everyday action.
Explaining the importance of the campaign, Lynne Elliot, CEO of White Ribbon UK, said:
“We see lots of men from all backgrounds using their voices to speak up for women and girls in everyday situations. It’s so important that speaking up becomes the norm so that we can challenge and change the culture that enables violence against women and girls.”
Thank you to our portraits exhibition sponsor London Northwestern and West Midlands Railways for making this possible!
If you live in or close to Milton Keynes, then you can visit the exhibition at centre:mk located in Silbury Arcade, next to John Lewis, until 10 December.
Lynne Elliot, CEO of White Ribbon UK with the sponsor for the exhibition London Northwestern and West Midlands Railways, Cara Higgs, Community Strategy Manager and Matthew Bradley, Head of Stations
Photo: PIC PR
Ambassadors Martin Mathews and Mike Taggart MBE
Photo: PIC PR
Thank you to all our Accredited and Supporter organisations, Ambassadors and Champions and the public who shared their support for speaking up and organised important events in their communities to raise awareness of White Ribbon Day! If you haven’t already, please let us know how you marked the day.
We also saw support for the campaign across political parties in Westminster and during Prime Minister’s Questions on 26 November with Emily Darlington MP raising awareness of White Ribbon Day and the White Ribbon Promise.
Video: Parliament Live TV