RAN Makes Great Headway to Achieve White Ribbon Accreditation

The Royal Australian Navy is making great headway in its bid to achieve White Ribbon accreditation, with one in every five Navy members having completed the important White Ribbon survey.

White Ribbon Australia seeks to change the attitudes and behaviours that lead to and perpetuate men’s violence against women, by engaging boys and men to lead social change. The White Ribbon campaign is the World’s largest male-led movement to end men’s violence against women.

The Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs has made a commitment to make the Royal Australian Navy White Ribbon accredited by the end of the year.

Navy already has many White Ribbon ‘ambassadors’ who lead the campaign by living the white ribbon oath: never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women.

By striving to become a White Ribbon accredited workplace, Navy demonstrates its commitment to tackling this issue – which is important for Navy and the wider Australian community.

The first stage of achieving White Ribbon accreditation involves the completion of a whole of Navy survey, which will obtain a baseline understanding of Navy’s perceptions regarding violence against women. Chief of Navy has asked all uniformed Navy personnel to complete the short 5 minute survey.

So far, more than 20% of the men and women in the Royal Australian Navy have responded, with a goal of achieving the 30% target by the end of August.

The Program Director, New Generation Navy, Captain Mark Hill, said that ‘violence against women is a significant issue requiring all sectors of the Australian community to take action. Whether it’s at home or at work, violence against women impacts on women’s health, safety, productivity and work capacity. For Navy, that means our capability is degraded and our ability to achieve our mission is compromised’.

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Press Release, August 28, 2013; Image: Australian Navy