The White Ribbon Campaign is a week-long event held on campuses across Canada with the goal of raising awareness about violence against women. This year’s campaign will take place during the week of November 23-27.

Although the WRC perceives violence against women as a widespread and systemic problem, the campaign will give an opportunity to members of our law school community to share their own experiences of violence against women through a venue that is respectful of privacy concerns.

We believe it is important to break the stereotype that only women from certain backgrounds suffer with gender-based violence. However, this year’s campaign will also focus on men’s role in creating and perpetuating the conditions that lead to abusive relationships, highlighting that men from every social/economic/cultural backgrounds are engaged in violent behaviour. We encourage both women and men to submit written accounts of their experiences.

Law students, staff and professors at the Faculty of Law are invited to submit written accounts of their experiences of violence against women through a fully-anonymous web form at http://www.whiteribbon.co.nr. These collected stories will be posted on a display in the foyer of Flavelle House during the week of November 23-27.

Some of these submissions will also be read aloud by male students on November 25, 2009 and all members of the law school are welcome to attend. We invite you to take this opportunity to hear about a few ways in which violence against women has impacted members of our school.

Students who wish to get involved with the campaign as volunteers are encouraged to contact Tuca Bihari at luiz.bihari@utoronto.ca.

Thank you for helping to raise awareness about this deeply important issue.

Sincerely,

Tuca Bihari

Joseph Heller

Bahaa Ezzelarab

David Schultz

2009 Campaign Organizers

“Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies. Some versions are critical of past and present social relations. Many focus on analyzing what they believe to be social constructions of gender and sexuality. Many focus on studying gender inequality and promoting women’s rights, interests, and issues.

Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. Feminism is also based on experiences of gender roles and relations. Feminist political activism commonly campaign on issues such as reproductive rights, violence within a domestic partnership, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, discrimination, and sexual violence. Themes explored in feminism include patriarchy, stereotyping, objectification, sexual objectification, and oppression.

Modern feminist theory has been criticized as being predominantly, but not exclusively, associated with Western middle-class academia. Feminist activism, however, is a grass-roots movement that seeks to cross boundaries based on social class, race, culture, and religion. It is culturally specific and addresses issues relevant to the women of that society: for example female circumcision in Sudan, or the glass ceiling in developed economies. Some issues, such as rape, incest, and mothering, are universal.”

http://www.womensstudies.eku.edu/what/