Walk a Mile In Her Shoes

Walk A Mile In Her Shoes is coming back to Beale Street Oct 3rd with live music!

On Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, men and boys will rally to show their support in the 15th annual Memphis Walk a Mile in Her Shoes.

Men rally to end violence against women and say NO MORE to domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and stalking.

Fully 25% of all local homicides are domestic violence: someone is killed by someone who claimed to love them.

Over half of local reported domestic violence aggravated assaults involved guns compared to 24 percent back in 2011. Guns makes domestic violence 5 times more likely to result in death.

Men’s behavior is key to ending domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and stalking.

On Saturday, Oct. 3, men and boys will rally to show their support in the 15th annual Memphis Walk a Mile in Her Shoes.

All are invited to unite against gender violence as the Walk returns to downtown, with a rally and live music in Handy Park followed by the Walk on Beale, Front, Talbot and Main to return to the park.

The 2026 Walk is organized by the Memphis Area Women’s Council in partnership with Memphis Says NO MORE, National Coalition of 100 Black Women Memphis Chapter, CrimeStoppers and Splash Creative.

Deborah Clubb, Women’s Council executive director, said the Walk means even more as state and national officials pay ever stronger attention to crime and safety in Memphis and Shelby County.

“Violence against women and girls ruins lives, causes lifelong emotional trauma and chronic illness and injury. These are crimes like no other and too often result in homicide,” Clubb said. “Violence that is recorded as aggravated assault or a sexual misdemeanor can in fact be a tragedy of life-altering ramifications.

“Women, girls and female-identifying persons are beaten, shot, raped, choked, stalked and killed in our neighborhoods, sometimes by persons who claim to ‘love them,’ and sometimes by vicious, unknown predators.”

Though overall crime numbers might decline, the scourge of violence against women and girls continues with far too many attacks unreported and uncounted due to fear, humiliation or inability to reach out to authorities.

Men and boys must change their behavior — and help those who are violent stop – before the litany of pain and suffering will change, Clubb said.

Walk a Mile registration opens at 10:30 am on Oct. 3 with live music.
Walkers will rally at 11:30 a.m. and the Walk begins at 11:45 a.m.
Come in time to borrow shoes or bring your own or wear regular shoes.
Registration is $20 for general public, $10 for students with ID and free for children thru grade 12.
The Walk route will flow west on Beale to Main, south to Talbot, east to Main and north on Main back to Beale and Handy Park.

To volunteer, contact Deborah Clubb at dclubb@memphiswomen.org or call 901-378-3866 with media questions.

Past Walk a Mile In Her Shoes Events

Judge Greg Gilbert and Asst. Chief of Police Services Don Crowe led the 13th Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Tuesday, September 17th, 2024 around the UofM campus and down Poplar.
WMC-TV aired this story: Watch Here!

If you didn’t make it this year, try to join us next year. It’s a fine opportunity to support safety for women and girls and also to help young students consider how they live in their relationships.

The Women’s Council thanks Judge Gilbert, elected in 2020 to General Sessions Div. 10 Domestic Violence court for joining the Walk. Judge Gilbert rallied the Walkers to step up now and every day to end violence against women and girls and also urged them to vote in November.

UofM graduate and Women’s Council board secretary Julianna Daniel described her own experience with violence and thanked walkers, who included many UofM athletes, criminal justice students, police officers, clergy, attorneys, other students and community members.

UofM graduate and Women’s Council board secretary, Julianna Daniel addresses the crowd of walkers.

The Memphis Area Women’s Council initiated the Walk locally downtown in 2010 from City Hall down the Main Street Mall to Front and back to City Hall. The Walk continued annually 2011-2013 in the Broad Avenue Historic District and then blossomed in 2015 as the centerpiece in a day of events that launched the multi-media Memphis Says NO MORE campaign.

Memphis Says NO MORE became the organizing theme of Walks along Beale Street and the Mall in 2015 and 2016 and in a one-mile loop at the University of Memphis beginning in 2017. Recent Walks have drawn government officials, judges, doctors, professors, ministers, lawyers, police commanders and athletes.

By 2019 the Walk was drawing nearly 300 participants. COVID-19 prevented the 2020 Walk. It returned with signature masks in 2021 and has pranced the route along Central, Highland and Poplar every year since.

Photo by Trey Clark, University of Memphis

Resources:

Redefining Masculinity: Men as Allies in the Fight against Gender Violence, by Chelsea Tait Lucas

2019 Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Draws 280

Some guys borrowed high heels, some brought their own, and some shoes were destroyed in the process as the ninth Memphis Walk a Mile in Her Shoes once again gave local men a chance to rally against domestic violence and rape.

Football players, fraternity members, community leaders and others from two universities and across the city joined women in the Walk that launched from the University of Memphis Ramesses II statue plaza on Sept. 25.

At the rally, UofM student leaders Antonio Scott, president of Student Government Association, and Alex Tate, executive director of SAPAC (Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center) urged students to help make the university a place free of sexual assault.

Kenneth Anderson, the university’s Title IX coordinator, thanked students for joining the Walk and reminded all to look out for one another in settings when risky behavior could arise.

Two longtime Walkers – Kevin Reed, a Shelby County judicial commissioner, and Memphis’s Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen – told the crowd that it is men who can and must stop the violence by helping their friends and family members stop. “Not just today,” McGowen said, “but for another 364 days.”

Organized by the Memphis Area Women’s Council, Memphis Says NO MORE, University of Memphis Title IX Prevention Center and SAPAC, the Walk also was supported by September of Service volunteers from Christian Brothers University who joined UofM student leaders in assisting Walkers with registration, t-shirts, signs and women’s shoes.

The UofM women’s basketball team and Memphis Police Department command staff joined the throng that roamed west to Highland, north to Poplar, east to DeLoach and back down Central to return to the Ramesses plaza.

2018 Walk A Mile – 260 Hit the Streets at U of M

A boisterous line of 237 students and community leaders bearing signs and chanting drew honks and cheers of support last week as they marched along Central, Highland and Poplar in the 8th Memphis Walk a Mile in Her Shoes.

Many men wore women’s shoes – high ones, low ones, red, gold, aqua or black.

Fathers brought sons. Mothers brought daughters. Professors, lawyers, police officers, business owners, social workers, college and high school students marched in the demonstration against rape, sexual assault and gender violence.

The 2018 march stepped off from the Ramesses II statue at the University of Memphis after a rally attend by about 260. It was organized by the Memphis Area Women’s Council, Memphis Says NO MORE, the Memphis Sexual Assault Kit Task Force and Splash Creative in partnership with the UofM Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Coalition, Student Government Association and Title IX Prevention Center.

Women’s Council executive director Deborah Clubb welcomed and thanked the throng. Nikkino Wesson and Courtney Paige Harrough from SAPAC described the importance of supporting survivors of gender violence and the workunderway on campus.

Kenneth Anderson, UofM director of institutional equity, Antonio Scott from SGA, City Councilmember Worth Morgan and Bridges teen leaders Mohamed Abdo and Devin Dearborn rallied the walkers before leading the way west on Central.