MEN’S SUPPORT CRUCIAL IN COMBATING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Published: Saturday, November 27, 2010

Labour Women support the white ribbon campaign launched yesterday by The Other Half to ask men to take a stand against violence against women and girls said Katherine Dunne, Labour Women Chair.
"Violence against women is not simply an issue for women and women's groups. We need men to make a commitment to combat violence against women.
"Most men are not violent, and by participating in the white ribbon campaign men can take a stand, influencing their peers, sons, brothers, fathers and saying simply and clearly that violence against women must be opposed at every level. Hearing other men say this can make a big difference. We are all social creatures influenced by what is acceptable and what is not - that is what makes us human.
"The annual cost of domestic and sexual violence can be estimated to be about €3 billion in Ireland. When the recession started to take effect, there was a 43% increase in the rates of domestic violence during 2007-09. In 2009 Women's Aid received over 14,000 calls.
"We know that the threshold to make a phone call can be very high, so these calls represent only some of the incidents that actually took place. The 13 Rape Crisis Centres received over 12,000 contacts. The Ryan and Murphy Reports in 2009 exposed the extent of violence and rape in institutions.
"The tariffs available for sentencing in sexual crimes are not sufficiently deterrent. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Act, 2007, rushed through the Dáil with no opportunity for amendments, was a lost opportunity to improve matters.
"Judges are not empowered to impose sentences to run consecutively if they relate to the same series of charges. The maximum the perpetrator will serve is the longest of the several sentences handed down no matter how heinous the multiple assaults committed.
"The country's attention is now on the forthcoming general election and the survival of our economy. But wearing a white ribbon and speaking out against violence are simple things all men can do to help eliminate the violence that many women suffer every day."

Contact Katherine Dunne, Labour Women Chair at 085 122 4055