Stockport Council today (24 November) raised a White Ribbon flag to boost awareness of gender-based violence.

It comes in advance of tomorrow's White Ribbon day, which in turn marks the start of 16 days of activism against violence towards women and girls.

The White Ribbon movement is active in 60 countries; it was founded by a group of men in Canada in 1991, in response to the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in which 14 women were murdered and a further 10 injured.

The White Ribbon organisation states: "Our mission is to prevent violence against women and girls by addressing its root causes. We work with men and boys to change long-established, and harmful, attitudes, systems and behaviours around masculinity that perpetuate inequality and violence."

Cllr Frankie Singleton, Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Sport, said: "We take great pride in our White Ribbon accreditation and remain steadfast in our commitment to drive awareness, education, and advocacy for meaningful change against the harm of women.

"We firmly believe that the only path to change lies in promoting continued education of respect and tolerance towards women, setting an exemplary standard for all, which is why it is so important to promote and attend White Ribbon UK's upcoming Webinars. We aim to proactively combat domestic abuse and create a zero-tolerance stance across the borough."

(Image - Alasdair Perry)

Similarly, Cllr Joe Barratt, who speaks for Labour on community safety said: "It's shocking that nearly one in four girls in mixed-sex schools have had experiences of unwanted sexual touching in school and six in 10 women have felt harassed in the gym by a man. As such, men have a crucial role to play in speaking out in order to create a culture where male violence, abuse and harassment against women is made a thing of the past."

The flag raising comes not long after Heatons South councillor Claire Vibert forwarded a motion at a council meeting to improve safety across the borough.

In the meeting last week, she said: "One study suggests that over 70% of women have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space - this might be on the bus, in a shop, walking along the street.

"And so we are socialised to feel fearful. We take the longer, well-lit route home; we message each other to say we're home safe; we carry our keys between our knuckles while walking home late at night. This limits our freedom to access spaces and opportunities compared to men."

~

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Stockport Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our town.

To get our top stories in your inbox each week, subscribe to our free weekly newsletter HERE.

Please consider following Stockport Nub News on Facebook or Twitter