Behind the polished man
Our Chief Operating Officer (COO) shared the personal connection that led to him joining the Polished Man campaign – helping end abuse against women and children.
Glen Babington shows his blue nail. Photo: Georgia Brogan.
Dressed in a navy suit and wearing a diplomatic smile, Glen Babington, COO, presents every inch the senior executive. But on this occasion, he dons teal polish on a single nail.
Glen is at the morning tea launching UTS’s involvement with the Polished Man campaign, an initiative supporting women and children affected by violence. He’s one of 30 champions who’ve joined Respect.Now.Always. alongside UTS Sport and ActivateUTS, in painting a nail this October to spark conversations and fundraise for this cause.
As a young boy, Glen witnessed domestic abuse at home. This not only impacted his mother, who ‘Lost trust in men and could never re-partner’ but has had a lasting impact on Glen. As a father of 2 daughters, he says, ‘It's an ever-present fear of mine, that they are confronted by a man who doesn't understand how to treat others. I think it's a real insidious scourge in our community.’
The money raised by the Polished Man campaign is used to fund trauma prevention programs run by ygap and recovery programs through RizeUp Australia.
‘I found that men don’t naturally tend towards violence’, Glen says, referring to his time in the army. ‘Certainly not in circumstances where you've got someone that cannot defend themselves,’ he adds. But positive change is hardly possible without talking openly. He understands the power of frank dialogue about domestic abuse, free of euphemisms or hushed tones. The painted nail is meant to initiate these discussions, ‘It’s been a while since I've painted my nails, but I'm loving it for the sake of the conversation.’
A UTS staff member getting their nail painted at our Polished Man morning tea. Photo: Georgia Brogan.
Glen reflects on his time at another educational institution, ‘Counselling lecturers explained to me that when the topic of domestic violence would come up, quite often up to half the class would break down in tears because of the sudden realisation … they had spent their life in an environment of domestic violence. And they had always assumed that was normal family life.’
This, Glen says, is ‘A terrible indictment on our communities and societies.’
As a senior executive at a large organisation, Glen believes companies must empower ‘Men to have frank conversations about why these things occur’. Asking, ‘What is the challenge around anger management? What are the reference points that this minority of men believe give them licence to behave in a way that's just unacceptable? We’ve got to have that conversation.’ Through his support of the Polished Man campaign, as well as using his platform to speak out, Glen is doing just that.
Donate to the Polished Man campaign
The Respect.Now.Always. team at the Polished Man morning tea. Photo: Georgia Brogan.
UTS is an official Polished Business, and we encourage all donations via the Polished Man website. All money raised goes towards ygap and RizeUp Australia, supporting some of the world’s leading trauma prevention and recovery programs.
