 "Photo: Chase Olivieri")
Last Thursday afternoon about 75 men learned what it felt like to walk in women’s shoes. Literally.
The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s inaugural Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event, sponsored by the UH Women’s Center, PAU Violence Program, and the UH athletics department, asked men to walk a mile in high heels in order to gain awareness and prevention for violence to women.
“We’re talking about sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking,” said PAU Violence coordinator Leslie Cabingabang. “If it’s happening to women – and usually it’s a male partner – and if men are committing the crime, why not men be the one stop it or help prevent it? ”
Among the participants were coaches, administrators, staff and student-athletes of the athletics department.
“We were glad to cooperate with the athletics department. Athletics is such a big thing here, so for them to take leadership was really important for us,” said Jennifer Barnett, UH Women’s Center director.
“We have such a large and immediate impact with the male population on campus,” said assistant football coach Dave Aranda, who represented the athletic department in the march. “I think it’s important to model good things.”
Derived from the common saying “you never know what a person goes through unless you walk in their shoes,” Walk a Mile in Her Shoes is an international movement to educate the community about gender violence.
According to the official Web site, the program started in 2001 by Frank Baird, a marriage and family therapist in California, and has grown tremendously ever since. Baird and “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” have gotten national recognition, winning the Safe Passage Good Samaritan Award in 2008, the Peter Markin Merit Award in 2007 and Kaiser Permanente’s Everyday Hero Award in 2005.
They have also earned an honor from Equality Now: On the Road to Equality, Honoring Men on the Front Lines in 2006.
According to the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes campaign, one in six women has experienced sexual assault in her lifetime and college-aged women are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted. Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
“You don’t really think about it, especially being a guy,” said freshman Jordan Mitchell, who participated in the march. “I never really thought about it before this event. It’s important – and I think that was the point – to get it on everyone’s mind, and even for just one day and they’ll know that it’s important.”
Mitchell sported shiny red 4-inch heels and said he had a lot fun doing so.
“The only way to combat (violence to women) is to have a public open thing out where everyone can see it,” he said.
This is the first time that UH Mānoa has participated in this Walk a Mile in Her Shoes. Other campuses in the UH system including UH Hilo, Hawai‘i Community College and Leeward Community College have already hosted it within the last two years.
“We’re the biggest campus in the system, so let’s start doing something about it,” Cabingabang said.
Cabingabang said that PAU Violence is trying to get all the 10 campuses involved in “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes.” Kapi‘olani Community College has its planned for April.
The march was open to men, but also welcomed women to stand along the route and encourage walkers.
The walk started from the Campus Center Courtyard, then headed down Legacy Path, then came up by the Art Building, circled Varney Circle, and then finally back down to the starting point.
“It’s more of an exciting thing; it’s not necessarily a sad thing like silent marches,” said Cabingabang. “This is a neat way, a fun way to get guys involved.”
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