Manish Malhotra joins Global Campaign against Gender Violence at Lakmé Fashion Week

~ The Blue Fashion Runway showcasing Manish Malhotra ~

~ Show to be held on Day 1 of Lakmé Fashion Week and kicks off the WEvolve Campaign~

Mumbai,February 2015: Fashion designer Manish Malhotra announced today he would take a leading role at next month’s Lakmé Fashion Week which launches WEvolve, a global campaign that empowers young men and women to challenge norms that lead to gender violence.

This big show featuring The Blue Fashion Runway is a part of Lakmé Fashion Week’s 15 year celebrations.

The global WEvolve campaign focuses on the worldwide problem of gender violence.  The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 35 percent of women worldwide, over one billion women, have or will experience either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Violence against men is both under-researched and under-reported.

Manish Malhotra and his work will be showcased in WEvolve’s Blue Fashion Runway show on March 18. The best runway faces, popular celebrities and leading personalities from Bollywood and beyond will unite on this critical issue while celebrating the promise of a better future.

Manish Malhotra shares, “It is a pleasure to be involved in the launch of this WEvolve global campaign that addresses gender violence.  Fashion has a comprehensive and universal appeal and can thus be a powerful instrument to raise awareness and promote action. I congratulate WEvolve and Lakmé Fashion Week and am entirely overwhelmed to show my Blue Fashion Runway Collection and contribute to this great cause.”

The WEvolve program draws on the power of creative industries – Including mass popular culture, fashion and social media – to empower young people to challenge norms and behaviors that lead to gender violence. WEvolve is a partnership that includes a growing list of multilateral organizations, business groups and companies, foundations, civil society and academic institutions.  The diverse array of partners includes Breakthrough, CARE International, Cornell University, International Finance Corporation, Ogilvy, Pearl Academy, Population Foundation, PROMUNDO, Show of Force, UNWomen, and World Bank.

Purnima Lamba, Head of Innovations, Lakmé added, “Lakmé Fashion Week is honored to host the global launch of WEvolve’s Blue Fashion Runway. The platform has always encouraged fashion for a cause, The Blue Fashion Runway show will help raise global awareness of gender violence.”

 Saket Dhankar, Head – Fashion, IMG Reliance shared, “In collaboration with Manish Malhotra, we are happy to introduce The Blue Fashion Runway at Lakmé Fashion Week this season to address the issue of gender violence. The show has all the makings of a blockbuster: top designers, strong collection story and an enviable front row with some of the best faces in the glamour, media and entertainment industries.”

Fact sheet on Gender-Based Violence in South Asia

• The global cost of violence is estimated to be 5.2% of the global GDP, or a staggering $4.4 trillion (Report for UNWomen by Copenhagen Consensus Center)
• Beyond the direct and short-term consequences, children who witness violence are more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems, perform poorly in school and be at risk of perpetrating or experiencing violence in the future (UNWomen).
• Research from developed countries shows that men and women who experienced violence in their home as children were 5 to 10 times more likely to have problems with substance abuse and 2 to 3 times more likely to have cardiovascular problems, cancer and other diseases (2012 World Development Report). 
• Businesses and employers can incur financial losses due to gender violence on account of absences, due to the health consequences inhibiting the survivor from working; incarceration of the perpetrator; and expenses related to additional security measures that might be needed in the workplace (UNWomen).  
• On average, 30 percent of women who have been in a relationship report that they have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence by their partner, and as many as 38 percent murders of women were committed by an intimate partner (WHO).
• Violence against men is both under-researched and under-reported. According to UNICEF’s latest report on child marriage, 156 million men across the globe were married before they were 18 years old.
• Evidence supports the centrality of social norms in leading to gender violence.  Over 35 population-based studies from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East have shown that attitudes condoning partner violence on the part of both women and men – but particularly men – are highly predictive of the perpetration of violence. Male respondents from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea cited sexual entitlement as the most common motivation for rape (LSHTM).

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