Members of Ballarat's Zonta Club dressed in orange and walked around Lake Wendouree in a very visible show of support for International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
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The walk, although small because of COVID-19 restrictions, marked the first day of a global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign.
"One of our goals is to work towards a world where women can live in safety and so we wanted to mark the start of the 16 Days of Activism campaign," said Ballarat Zonta Club president Caroline Nolan.
The club has been working with Ballarat Council and Women's Health Grampians on how to push the messages of the global campaign more locally in Ballarat.
As part of the campaign Zonta and City of Ballarat will apply stencils with spray on chalk featuring Respect Women: Call It Out #callitout in the CBD and suburban retail centres across Ballarat.
The launch of the Respect Women: 'Call It Out' campaign last week comes after statistics showed family violence incidents increased throughout COVID-19 lockdown periods.
Victoria Police experienced a 67.5 per cent increase in family violence incident reports in Ballarat from April to June this year compared to the same time last year.
The new campaign focuses on promoting respect for all people as gender inequality is recognised as one of the biggest drivers of violence against women and family violence.
Ms Nolan said while the walk was small because it could not be promoted heavily due to the uncertainty around what COVID restrictions would be in place, she was happy with the turnout and would plan a bigger event next year.
Regional leaders and chief executives also lent their voices to campaign against gender-based violence on International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women and Children.
The City of Ballarat along with Women's Health Grampians and the CoRE Leadership Group launched a video telling the story of a gender equitable future, and how to achieve it, to help engage the community in conversations about respect.
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"We are proud to support this campaign in prompting the community to collectively call out harmful attitudes and behaviours, as well as understanding how to foster respectful relationships across all interactions in our everyday lives" City of Ballarat chief executive Janet Dore.
"It's time to think about what a gender equitable future looks like and to call out disrespect, sexism and discrimination," said Women's Health Grampians chief executive and CoRE Leadership Group chair Marianne Hendron.
If you are experiencing or at risk of violence, call Safe Steps on 1800 015 188 or safesteps.org.au
