Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Campaign to tackle violence against women launches in north bookies

Post Thumbnail

A campaign to tackle violence against women is being launched in betting shops in the north today.

Betting shop staff from bookmakers William Hill, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Scotbet will take part in the week-long event in support of anti-abuse charity White Ribbon Scotland.

Staff will ask men who enter their shops to sign the White Ribbon Scotland pledge “never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women in all its forms”.

Two previous campaigns, held in Glasgow and Hamilton, secured more than 1,300 pledges.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


The latest campaign will involve all 12 betting shops in Inverness. Betting shop staff from Dingwall and Elgin will also participate.

It will run from today until next Monday.

Ahead of the launch, betting shop staff attended a White Ribbon Scotland awareness workshop in Inverness and were joined by Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Drew Hendry, a newly appointed ambassador for the charity.

Highlands and Islands MSP John Finnie, Co-Convenor of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Men’s Violence against Women and Children was also at the event.

Mr Hendry said: “In recent years, men have been taking a more active role in tackling the issue of violence against women and campaigns like White Ribbon are key to increasing that commitment.

“Reaching out into what has been seen as traditionally male environments, like the local bookies, is a good way of reinforcing the message that gender-based violence is unacceptable.”

Mr Finnie added: “It is sadly clear that male violence against women and children is unfortunately still a scourge across our communities.

“It’s vital that men engage robustly in addressing and making clear to other men that is unacceptable. Most importantly we need to reach out into environments where men are, and campaigns like White Ribbon are a vital part of this.”

Davy Thompson, campaign director of White Ribbon Scotland, said: “If we are to end violence against women in Scotland it is essential that we engage men to help make the changes required.

“Engagement through local bookies has been shown to reach large numbers of men who step up to take the pledge and make it clear that they will not ignore this issue.”

The campaign is being coordinated by ABB Scotland, the trade association for high street bookmakers.

ABB Scotland spokesman Donald Morrison said: “This campaign is not about stigmatising men, the vast majority of whom would never contemplate violence about women. It is about encouraging men to take a stand against domestic abuse.”