Reclaiming the night this Sunday
Organisers of Reclaim the Night, the annual march to stop violence against women, expect record numbers in the wake of the murder of Melbourne media worker Jill Meagher.
Kate O’Brien, one of the members of the organising group, says that this year, the aim has been to involve everyone: men, women, old and young, to stop the violence.
“Women have the right to live free of fear, free from all forms of physical, psychological and emotional abuse,” she says.
The march starts at 7pm this Sunday at Hyde Park and organisers, keen to make the event family-friendly, will start the event with a picnic and live music from 4pm.
Reclaim the Night is part of a worldwide movement which started in the late seventies and actively campaigns to stop all violence against women. The Melbourne march this year attracted thousands of people.
Speakers include Najeeba Wazefadost, Afghan refugee, President of Hazara Women Australia and recipient of the 2011 Young Woman of the West Award; Lani Brennan, Indigenous advocate for domestic violence survivors; and Lily Elderstein, 16, on the incidence of abuse of women online.
“Reclaim The Night aims to protest and raise awareness about the continuing harassment and serious violence that many women in Australia experience on a daily basis,” Ms O’Brien says.
NSW Rape Crisis Centre reports that one in five women in Australia will experience sexual assault in their lifetimes and one in three women will experience assault. Online, women experience 25 times more abuse than men.
For more information, visit: http://www.facebook.com/events/123673621114175/?fref=ts
