Gannawarra Shire Council is joining municipalities across Victoria to support Respect Victoria’s ‘Respect Women: Call It Out’ campaign, with the annual Gannawarra Goes Orange community pledge ceremony held at Cohuna’s Visitor Information Centre on Monday.
Participants, including Gannawarra Shire Council mayor Lorraine Learmonth, pledged to ‘call out’ disrespect and violence towards women.
“As a society, if we can change the conversation, we can change the culture that enables family violence and violence against women to occur in the first place,” Cr Learmonth said.
The Respect Women: Call It Out campaign runs as part of the Victorian 16 Days of Activism, which started on Monday to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The 16-day period ends on Tuesday, December 10, which coincides with International Human Rights Day.
The Gannawarra Goes Orange campaign, now in its third year, is a partnership between the council, Northern District Community Health, Kerang District Health, Cohuna District Hospital, Mallee District Aboriginal Service, Victoria Police, Mallee Family Care and the Southern Mallee Primary Care Partnership.
Northern District Community Health, CEO Mandy Hutchinson said the partnership was working to address family violence throughout the Gannawarra shire.
“Although the calling out of any form of violence against women – which includes acts of physical, sexual, emotional, economic and psychological abuse – is improving, we still have a long way to go,” Ms Hutchinson said.
“One way to prevent violence against women from occurring is to continue to raise awareness and educate people in the wider community to call out disrespect towards women.
“If we call out disrespectful language and behaviour, we will have a much more respectful society that is safer for everyone.”
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, please phone 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
