Today is White Ribbon Day – the international day for the elimination of violence against women and girls.

The powerful poem below was written by 14-year-old Mills Folkes, daughter of Revd Arwen Folkes, former priest of this diocese. While this poem was written about women in Afghanistan, it is relevant to many countries across the world today.

White Ribbon Day encourages men to hold themselves accountable to women, and to each other, so we can affect positive behaviour change to transform harmful cultures. Gender equality is key to making this culture change happen. Gender equality is achievable if men and boys understand and assume their responsibility as allies.

Starting with men, we must address the attitudes and behaviours that contribute to a fear of violence for women in their day-to-day lives.

More information about White Ribbon Day is available here.

If you have a safeguarding concern or need support visit our safeguarding pages here.

She is Silent, no, silenced

Mills Folkes, 14

A women strolls gracefully through a park,
her head bowed.
She is silent, no, Silenced.
A swan glides across the still, still pond,
she makes waves with her strong white wings.
‘Beautiful’, the woman doesn’t say.
The swan can make waves,
the woman can not.

A woman reads quietly on a bench,
She is silent, no, Silenced.
A songbird sits in a nearby tree,
She sings a sweet melody,
hopping from branch to branch.
The woman peers at the little bird,
‘Lucky bird’ she can’t say.
The bird can sing,
the woman can not.

A woman, maybe beautiful, maybe not,
we cannot tell,
is approached by a man.
She does not like this man,
but he likes her.
The man says something,
she wants to say no,
but she can not.
She cannot say anything.
She is silent, no. Silenced.