Men will get a chance to see what it’s like to walk a mile in a set of women’s high heel shoes in the first annual “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event in Kennesaw, organized to draw attention to domestic violence.

The walk is hosted by the Cobb County Domestic Violence Task Force, in partnership with the Kennesaw Public Safety Foundation and the Kennesaw Police Department.

“The discomfort of walking a mile in heels will never measure up to the suffering domestic violence victims endure; however, it does create awareness and lets victims know their voices are heard,” states Chief of Police Bill Westenberger.

This event will take place Saturday, October 9, 2021 at Swift-Cantrell Park.

According to the announcement distributed by the City of Kennesaw:

Twenty women per minute are abused by their partner in the United States every day. In 2020, there were 95,839 crisis calls to Georgia’s certified family violence agencies. In that same year, there were 136 known domestic violence related fatalities in Georgia.

Participants can register online at www.walk-a-mile-cobb-county.eventbrite.com. The march will begin at 9 a.m. with check-ins starting at 7 a.m.

Sponsorship opportunities are also available. If interested please contact Lt. Joy Policarpio at jpolicarpio@kennesaw-ga.gov.

About the Cobb County Domestic Violence Task Force

Sirpa Vigdorov of the Cobb County District Attorney’s office, who chairs the Cobb County Domestic Violence Task Force sent the Courier the following in an email:

The Domestic Violence Taskforce is county wide, multi-disciplinary effort to increase victim safety and offender accountability through coordinating local resources and efforts. The taskforces function under the Georgia Commission on Family Violence (https://gcfv.georgia.gov/family-violence-task-forces)., and each judicial circuit in the state has their own taskforce.  

The Cobb DV Taskforce organizes trainings, events and outreach in the community through several active subcommittees in cooperation with other local government and private organizations. The Walk a Mile in Her Shoes is our biggest event this year, and we hope to make it an annual tradition. We are excited to host it in Cobb for the first time.