You are invited to attend Canberra's Reclaim
The Night 2012 event, taking place on October 26 from 6:30 - 8:30pm in Garema
Place. Reclaim the Night is an annual event that is held around
the world and which began about 40 years ago, at the time of the
"Yorkshire Ripper" murders in England, where women were told by police to
stay indoors at night. It is in its 34th
year in Canberra.
Reclaim the Night has traditionally been about fighting
for women's right to feel safe in public spaces, without having to live with
the fear and reality of physical and sexual violence. The event provides a
public platform for women - and the men who support them - to raise awareness
of sexual violence and the right to feel safe in public places.
In Australia, one in five women is likely to suffer from physical
or sexual violence during their lifetime (ABS 2010). Reclaim the Night is an
opportunity to make a statement against the institutional and societal values
that give rise to this, to raise awareness of the issue in our own community,
and to give voice to those one in five who have suffered in silence. In this year's Reclaim the Night we hope that
participants will reflect on the history of Reclaim The Night, the progress
made along the way, and their hopes for the future.
Reclaim the Night is the opening event of the ACT Women's
Services Network's Summer of Respect campaign. The Summer of Respect runs
through until International Women's day on the 8th of March.
For more information, please contact Ashley Harrison on
a.harrison@wchm.org.au or 02 6290 2166
and follow us on
www.facebook.com/summerofrespect
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