Karen Ingala-Smith (CEO nia & founder of Counting Dead Women femicide census on history and impact of the men's White Ribbon project:
(extract)
"On 6th December 1989, Marc Lépine shot 14 female students dead and injured another 10 at the University of Montreal, Canada claiming he was ‘fighting feminism’. This led to a group of men in Canada launched the first White Ribbon Campaign in 1991. The White Ribbon Campaign has become a global campaign to ensure men take more responsibility for reducing the level of violence against women. I support men’s acknowledgement of their role in ending violence against women, it is essential for this to happen if we are going to end men’s violence against women and girls.
On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The UN invited governments, international organisations and NGOs to organise activities designated to raise public awareness of violence against women on this day.
Increasing though, the 25th November is referred to as White Ribbon Day by the majority of the minority of people actively interested in ending men’s violence against women and girls. The campaign by men overshadowing, not complementing, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Based on a huge assumption about the founders of White Ribbon Day, one might be tempted to question the race and sex dynamics at play when a campaign founded by white men eclipses a campaign founded by women of colour.
Sadly, many even fail to take the time to understand even the central them of ‘White Ribbon Day’ as illustrated by an email a colleague of mine received from an organiser of a ‘white ribbon event’ who told her that their day would be ‘for all victims of domestic violence, because men can be victims too’, simultaneously erasing the linking of the different forms of men’s violence against women and the campaign for men to take responsibility for their violence against women." (continues)
kareningalasmith.com/tag/white-ribbon-day/