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People are being encouraged to wear a white ribbon tomorrow to show they support the campaign against domestic violence.
Woman's Affairs Minister Lianne Dalziel and Justice Minister Mark Burton yesterday placed white ribbons on the pillars at the top of the steps of Parliament to highlight the issue.
The ministers, who are both on the Family Violence Ministerial Team, want everyone to endorse the anti-violence message by wearing a white ribbon.
"The Government is committed to eliminating violence against women, but it is not something that we can do by simply legislating against it," said Mr Burton.
"This requires an attitudinal change. I am pleased New Zealand men are setting an example by challenging their peers on attitudes and behaviour that condone, support and tolerate violence towards women."
Last year police recorded 63,000 incidents of family violence.
This month two top health researchers accused the Families Commission of "ideologically driven" bias in presenting domestic violence as a problem of men battering women.
Professor David Fergusson and Associate Professor Richie Poulton said their respective long-term studies of people born in Christchurch and Dunedin in the 1970s showed that most domestic violence was mutual.
Ms Dalziel said that while domestic violence was a two-way street the hard facts showed it did remain a gender issue. "It is women who experience the fear, it is women who are hospitalised, and it is women who die," she said.
Between 2000 and 2004, 54 women were murdered by men with whom they had a domestic relationship. Three men were murdered by women.
The ministers are calling on both men and women to wear white ribbons tomorrow to acknowledge the fact that violence occurs by acts of commission and omission.
"The wearing of the ribbon is not only symbolic of a promise never to commit or condone violence against women, it is also a promise not to remain silent in the face of such violence," said Mr Burton.
"We all have a responsibility to stand up and speak out against violence."
Families Commission chief executive Paul Curry said the campaign encouraged men to examine their attitudes toward women and challenge the behaviour of other men.
"Violence against women includes physical abuse but many men do not realise that threatening and controlling behaviour, psychological and sexual abuse are also acts of violence," he said.
The White Ribbon campaign was initiated by a group of Canadian men in 1991 in response to the killing of 14 female students at Montreal University.
* Meanwhile the future of the country's only Child Crisis teams that help children affected by domestic violence has been secured after the inaugural Get Organised garage sale, which raised nearly $400,000 over the weekend.
Spokeswoman Lynley Kirk-Smith said the success of the event would also allow a helpline to be expanded.
- additional reporting: NZPA
