HEBDEN Royd Town Council has become first council in Yorkshire to declare itself a "White Ribbon Town".
This means that the council will be supporting the campaign to ensure that men take more responsibility for reducing the level of violence against women.
It follows the council having a presentation by Chris Green, who last year received Cosmopoli
tan magazine's "Man of the Year" award, for his work as the co-ordinator of the UK section of the White Ribbon Campaign.
The campaign started in Colombia in 1981, where women from across Latin America came together to hold an annual day of protest on November 25 as an International Day Against Violence Against Women. The first White Ribbon Day in the UK was launched in 1998 and it gained charitable status last year.
Mr Green pointed out that one incident of violence against women takes place in Britain every 10 seconds, that's more than five million episodes.
"The aim of the campaign is to highlight the problem and educate men about gender violence," said Mr Green.
The Mayor Councillor Nader Fekri, who invited Mr Green to address the council, said he was delighted that members had taken such a bold step.
"Male violence against women is an issue for all of us and it is one that affects women that we care about, wives, girlfriends, sisters, and daughters," he said.
"I think the most frightening thing Chris said was that according to the World Bank, violence against women causes more deaths and disability among women aged 15-44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war. That works out to about 14 deaths in Calderdale alone".
Later on in the year, Hebden Royd Town Council hopes to stage events to underline its support for the campaign. In Bury they had a balloon release day, in Wrexham they held a march and reclaim the night event and even the FA Premiership has come out to back the campaign.
"The one that really caught my attention was a sponsored walk 'A mile in my shoes', where men had to complete the walk wearing a pair of women's shoes. They took the opportunity to hand out literature, and talk to bystanders, as well as raise a lot of money for the charity," added Coun Fekri.
The full article contains 385 words and appears in Hebden Bridge Times newspaper.
