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A big heartfelt thank you, to everyone who joined us for the Walk Against Family Violence (WAFV) 2021 on Thursday 25 November 2021. In 2021, the number of family violence incidents is the highest in Victoria’s recorded history, making the WAFV more important than ever.
This year’s Walk Against Family Violence was again based on local walks ‘from home or the office’ with thousands of Victorians walking in their local area wearing something orange as part of the UN’s International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Day 1 of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Across Victoria, people took to their local streets wearing orange to show support for victims and survivors of family violence and to send the message that family violence and all forms of gender-based violence is unacceptable.
The sea of orange across social media to show your support was wonderful to see. You can view the messages of support to victim-survivors by viewing the hashtag #WAFV2021 on LinkedIn HERE, Twitter HERE, Facebook HERE and Instagram HERE.
Over the last month alone, the hashtag #WAFV2021 was exposed to approximately 2.5 million people! We can’t thank each and every one of you who shared the message far and wide, that there is never an excuse for violence.
From the wonderful people who have registered for the WAFV2021, we found;
- Some of the outstanding team names are Red Hot Chili Steppers and Not Fast, Just Furious.
- The number of organisations represented in the registrations was over 300. Notably Victoria Police, Energy Australia and St Josephs College Geelong
- Satellite regional events scheduled in Melbourne’s CBD, Swan Hill, Geelong, Gippsland, Bendigo, Shepparton and Warrnambool.
- Safe Steps distributed 5,000 masks and 600 dog bandanas all over inner city and regional Victoria.
- Safe Steps engaged 24 local councils including distributing 450 footpath decals to 16 different councils including Ararat, Darebin, Frankston, Golden Plains and Monash.
We want to extend a massive thanks to our WAFV2021 ambassadors Rosie Batty, Kym Valentine and Tarang Chawla for their support and ongoing advocacy.
A big thank you to everyone who attended the WAFV2021 media event in the Fitzroy Gardens’ Bandstand, including the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Women & Aboriginal Affairs – Gabrielle Williams, Lord Mayor of Melbourne – Sally Capp, our principal partners – Respect Victoria and everyone who was invited to speak as part of the expert panels.
By joining the walk against family violence, we all share and send the message that family violence is never okay, says Safe Steps CEO Rita Butera.
“By walking in solidarity, we help change the community attitudes that enable family violence, and we know this can make a difference, and it can save lives.”
This blog post will be updated with more images and videos in the next few days.
