24/7 provincial toll-free crisis line 18779770007

  • Manitoba Association of Women's Shelters

MAWS provides information only. If you are in danger call 911. If you or someone you know is being abused, call the confidential 24/7 provincial toll-free crisis & support line at: 1-877-977-0007

“Day After Day” Campaign

This June 2022, MAWS is pleased to be running the White Ribbon Canada “Day after Day” Awareness Campaign right here in Manitoba. The campaign seeks to engage men and boys in conversations around healthy relationships, in unlearning and rejecting toxic masculinity behaviours that lead to violence, and committing to change. MAWS will be sharing the “Day After Day” videos and graphics from White Ribbon, which follow the story of a family in lockdown experiencing a troubling pattern of domestic abuse.

During the pandemic, the world retreated into isolation and safety in their homes. But home is not the safest place for everyone. Between March and October 2020, calls to police about domestic disputes increased 8.2 per cent (Statistics Canada). For many, home is the space they share with their abuser, and the pandemic isolation meant that they were trapped there, with increasing risks and severity of violence, cut off from accessing support systems and resources. Gender-based violence is a violation of a person’s basic human right to be safe. It has devastating short- and long-term mental, physical and emotional effects on those affected by violence, including children who may witness violence or controlling behaviours.

Everyone has the right to explore their feelings and identities in healthy and open ways, and to feel safe to be themselves. Society has socialized men and boys into believing that the only acceptable way to be a man is to be aggressive or in control, to not show “weakness”, to repress one’s feelings, or express their emotions through anger instead of other healthy ways of open communication. Toxic masculinity pushes a template of controlling, rigid expressions and behaviours. Toxic masculinity is always dangerous and often fatal to women, girls, 2SLGBTQQIA folks & other groups facing discrimination in society, and it harms men and boys.

It’s more important than ever that men and boys are engaged in conversations around healthy relationships, in unlearning and rejecting toxic masculinity behaviours that lead to violence, and committing to change.

We encourage men and boys to visit https://www.whiteribbon.ca/dayafterday.html to learn more about how to promote healthy masculinities, seek guidance and contribute to a future without gender-based violence.