The Miles We Walk, The Progress We Make: My Annual NO MORE Pledge

By Jane Randel, Co-Founder and Board Chair, NO MORE

At this point, it’s become routine. The first Sunday in March, I lace up my sneakers and get going to complete my 5k or maybe 10k walk (my distance running days are behind me) in honor of NO MORE Week. This year is no different. 

But it feels a little different. Domestic and sexual violence have always plagued society, but at this moment, we have been seeing major cuts to services for victims, high rates of femicide in many parts of the world, growing online misogyny and image-based abuse, and mind-boggling revelations of the horrors Epstein victims/survivors have suffered and the vast number of people who participated or enabled them. 

Domestic and sexual violence are not confined to one part of the globe or another. They impact people from every region, socio-economic class, religion, sexual orientation, sex, age, you name it. No one is immune. We see those in the headlines, but it also could be your neighbor, your co-worker, your family member that are dealing with abuse in their homes, workplaces or schools every day. And it’s often fear, shame and stigma that keep them from seeking help. That is what makes this issue so insidious and enduring. 

There are many similarities around domestic and sexual violence, but no two cases are the same. For some the barriers are cultural. For others, they’re financial. And in some places, there are politics at play that keep people not just from getting help, but from working to prevent this violence and abuse in the first place. 

NO MORE Week was conceived to collectively bring light to these issues that otherwise thrive in the dark. The idea is simple in nature, but harder to execute without your participation. 

Supporting NO MORE Week does not need to be a heavy lift. Gather a group of people together in Cyprus and South Africa, in Ghana and Honduras, in London and New York, or wherever you are and walk (or run) together. Talk about why you think that after all these years, after all the ways our society has evolved, we still fall short in preventing domestic and sexual violence, despite the many efforts in place. If the Challenge is not your thing, host a coffee, a book club, a company lunch and learn, or a fundraiser for NO MORE or a local organization. Use your voice — whether in person or on your social media channels - to help increase awareness and action. 

This is the time to stand in solidarity with those who have been victims of abuse, share resources for those who are in the thick of it to find help, and most importantly, promote ways we can prevent it from happening in the first place.

So please join me and thousands of others across the world. We have many kilometers to log and so much progress to be made. But just by coming together to say NO MORE, we can get closer to a world free of violence.