Join up at East Oxford Community Centre at 6.30pm for a short, women-only (and child-friendly) march to a city centre venue for a short rally with speakers, some music, and nice hot tea & coffee provided by men from the White Ribbon Campaign in Oxford. We will be collecting donations for OSARCC at the rally.

Women: join us to raise our voices in solidarity with women who have experienced violence, so that they need no longer be afraid. Bring banners and a waterproof coat!

Men: join us to support the women marchers and stand in solidarity with all women. Bring smiles and teabags and biscuits!

For more information please email rtn.oxford [at] gmail.com

Please help promote Reclaim the Night by handing out leaflets (2 x A5 leaflets on 1 page of A4 - PDF) or displaying our poster (A4 PDF).

What is Reclaim the Night?

Oxfordshire Reclaim the Night is an annual women's march through the streets of Oxford city centre, raising awareness of, and demanding an end to, the ongoing global epidemic of violence against women. Women and men organise Oxfordshire Reclaim the Night together, and together raise money for OSARCC, Oxford's volunteer-run rape crisis hotline.

Why Reclaim the Night?

Even in the 21st century violence against women continues. Women in the UK experience forced marriages, rape, coercion, and violent assaults from both male partners and men they don't know. Films continue to portray violence against women as normal; young people continue to receive messages that violence against women and harassment and coercion of women is acceptable. Over a half of women with mental health problems report a previous experience of sexual abuse. A recent NSPCC survey found a quarter of young women had been beaten up by their boyfriends.

Attitudes still need to change. A poll for Amnesty in 2005 found that a third of people thought a flirtatious woman who was raped was partially to blame, and a quarter thought a woman was partially responsible for being raped if she wore sexy clothing.

Rape is not going away. Yet a number of rape crisis centres across the UK face closure and there is no nationally funded rape crisis helpline. And women face a postcode lottery in rape conviction rates: one in five reported rapes in Cleveland result in a conviction, whereas less than one in sixty do so in Dorset.

Globally:

• at least one in three women is beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime;
• 4 million women and girls are trafficked each year.

In the UK:

• 3 million women experience rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, trafficking, or other violence each year;
• one quarter of all women experience sexual violence during their lifetime.

In Oxfordshire:

• there were 6,598 reported incidents of domestic violence last year;
• only 6.5% of rapes reported to Thames Valley police resulted in conviction.

25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Throughout November women will hold Reclaim the Night marches in towns and cities throughout the world.

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