The Million Women Rise march on International Women's Day 8th March 2008 is open to all women and children. We have planned for the march to be women-only for a number of reasons:

Firstly, because it's being held on International Women's Day which is celebrated around the world and provides an opportunity to celebrate and honour the contributions, achievements and courage of women as well as acknowledge and recognise the continuing struggles facing women in our communities and countries. The origins of International Women's Day  can be traced to 8 March 1857 when women garment workers in New York demonstrated for improved working conditions, a ten hour day, and equal rights for women. Since then, the significance of the event has grown and in 1977 the United Nations General Assembly passed
Resolution No. 322/142 inviting each country to proclaim a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace.

Secondly, 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. 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'. There will be women and children on the march who have been assaulted and abused and who may be afraid of men. Out of respect for their safety, we wish the event to be women only.

Thirdly, women have been socially, culturally and economically conditioned to defer to men, to take our lead from men, to behave in ways approved of by men. On this particular day, we want women to come and feel the strength, the exhiliration and power of being with other women, to big ourselves up, 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.

We know there are men who will want to support the spirit and intentions of the event. If you're a man reading this, there are lots of ways in which you can show your support. You can stand on the pavements and cheer us on, you can babysit the kids while your mum, partner, sister, daughter attends the event, you can speak out to other men about about all forms of abuse and violence, you can contact
the White Ribbon Campaign*, you can ask your football team to hold a two minute silence, you can make a financial donation to help meet the cost of the event, you can organise discussion groups and so on.

*The White Ribbon Campaign UK is the UK branch of the global campaign to ensure men take more responsibility for reducing the level of violence against women.