Million Women Rise: 8 March 2014.

Violence devastates the lives of so many women, families and communities.

Just look at the reality of the UK today:

One woman in four will experience domestic violence at some point in her life;

Domestic violence has more repeat victims than any other crime (on average there will have been 35 assaults before a victim calls the police);

Two women are murdered every week by their partner or ex partner;

One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute;

One woman in four will experience sexual assault as an adult;

Only 5 per cent of rapes reported to the police result in the perpetrator being convicted in court;

Women are more worried about rape than any other crime;

250 cases of forced marriage are reported each year;

Up to 1,420 women per year are trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation;

One woman a month is murdered in the name of ‘so called’ honour;

Nearly 90 per cent of local authorities do not have a rape crisis centre;

Over 20,000 girls could be at risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK.

And then there is the ongoing rape and genocide of our sisters and children across the world from Eastern Congo to Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Palestine, Ivory Coast, Mali, Pakistan, Bangladesh, London, Bradford, Bolivia, Brazil, from Tamil women to Wales, East Europe, western Europe to the Americas – and on and on. The list is very, very long.

Women continue to be attacked, exploited, and violated in many different ways, in their homes, on the streets, on public transport, and at work.

The Million Women Rise (MWR) campaign to end violence against women is an international struggle for female emancipation and liberty.

Ordinary women who want to see an end to all forms of male violence against women.

Come  and say  a loud and clear ‘No’ to violence against women: join the Million Women Rise March in London on 8 March 2014 to say Enough is Enough!

The march will be forming up on Duke Street – right next to the Selfridges on the main road of Oxford Street, London W1A 1AB  – at 12 noon, and will be setting off at 1pm for a rally at Trafalgar Square.

Wear red; for Million Women Rise it symbolises the colour of Woman and her blood, the blood of our sisters who have been murdered and raped, our blood which contains life, courage, respect, dignity and protection.

The Million Women Rise march is open to all women and children.

It is women-only for a number of reasons:

Women and children in the UK and elsewhere around the world continue to experience violence; every minute of every hour of every day in our homes, on our streets, on our public transport, at our places of work and in countries where there is war.

Women have been socially, culturally and economically conditioned to defer to men, to take the lead from men, to behave in ways approved of by men.

The idea for the Million Women Rise event came from a group of women who dreamed of a strong visible presence of thousands of women marching together, in unity, to say ‘enough is enough’.

On this particular day, we want women to come and feel the strength, the exhilaration and power of being with other women, to celebrate ourselves, to sing, shout and chant at the top of our voices, in all our diversity, to demonstrate however we want because we’re women in the company of other women.

Join us.