Today’s marches across the country have been overwhelming.

I had tears in my eyes as I watched thousands of women with intense passion and conviction, including Brittany Higgins, plead for justice. It was so moving. And heartbreakingly sad that basic respect and care can not be afforded to women who have been victims of abuse.

Justice

This cry for justice is about recognising both physical and emotional abuse and calling for systemic change. It’s acknowledging the system that is meant to protect everyone, is biased against women and therefore broken. That the glass ceiling that stops women from having senior leadership roles (that could ultimately change the plight of women in our communities) is still in place. This is after so many, many, years of fighting for equality. There are still significant failings in the power structures within our institutions where leadership (of men and women) protects perpetrators and punishes victims (who are typically women). Women, all women, do not feel safe and do not feel heard.

Soldiering on

There is not a single woman I know who has not fell victim to one or more of these issues in varying degrees. I certainly have and as a younger, naïve woman many years ago, I didn’t think to question it. I hid my embarrassment, discomfort, shame and ‘soldiered on’, like it didn’t happen. I’ve reported sexual harassment of younger women in my workplace on 3 separate occasions at 3 different organisations only to be bullied and ostracized as a troublemaker, the victims silenced and the perpetrators protected. Abuse toward women in all its forms is an ongoing issue for humanity. It is horrifying that 1 in 5 women in Australia will be subjected to rape in their lifetime. Absolutely horrifying and a fact that any decent person would find shocking.

As a woman and decent person, I support the need for collective reform and support my fellow women in sharing their fears, acknowledging their bravery and standing beside them in calling for justice. And we stand with most men; decent people who see the injustice and protect all women in how they live their lives. This means doing what they can to stop their fellow men harming women, calling out troubling language and behaviour when they see or hear it, having open conversations about consent/safety with their sons/mates and are genuinely interested in all women’s safety. These men are actively supporting justice for women.

This is not an all-women-hating-on-all-men movement.

It is a women-seeking-justice movement that all decent people will support. As Brittany Higgins said, “Not a political issue but a human issue.” I can see that some men feel they are being thrown into the ‘men’ bucket and with it, the presumption that all men are capable of being perpetrators, are ambivalent to women’s safety and will perpetuate injustices against women to protect themselves and their mates.

But that is not what is happening.

The bucket is ‘bad men’ and clearly not all men are bad. Men who feel offended are not really listening. If they were, they would know that good men who are actively supporting all women in how they live their lives are not the men that are preventing systemic change and harming women. Good men are with all women supporting, protecting and driving change for justice and equality. They speak up. If they identify as a good man, they will not feel the need to call out their own benevolence. These men will instead recognise that the perpetrators of violence against women are bad men, bad people. They will agree that there are far too many of them and then actively work every day to remove them from our society. Including calling it out when they see it.

therealceo