Violence

Violence against women and girls is a global pandemic that is a human rights and public health issue as well as a major cause of death and disability. The prevalence of violence transcends boundaries of race, class, culture, social status and religion. UNIFEM estimates that six out of every ten women will experience some form of physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime. Violations can occur at home, in the workplace or in public. Of rising concern is the systematic use of rape and sexual assault as weapons of armed conflict, terror and intimidation. One of the most common forms of violence against women is intimate partner violence. There are also variations in the types of violence against women which include but are not limited to: human trafficking, dating violence, sexual assault, emotional and verbal abuse, and customary practices such as female genital mutilation and so-called “honor killings” and other forms of femicide. NCRW and its member centers are working along with international partners to raise awareness about efforts to reduce and eliminate the scourge of violence.

The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS)

Submitted by asklar on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:20am

On average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States, based on a survey conducted in 2010. Over the course of a year, that equals more than 12 million women and men. Those numbers only tell part of the story—more than 1 million women are raped in a year and over 6 million women and men are victims of stalking in a year. These findings emphasize that sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence are important and widespread public health problems in the United States.

URL:

http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/

Violence Against Women in Melanesia and Timor-Leste Progress made since the 2008 Office of Development Effectiveness report

Submitted by asklar on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:15am

This report builds on an earlier report published in 2008 by the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) of AusAID that assessed current approaches to addressing violence against women and girls in five of Australia’s partner countries: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste.

URL:

http://www.icrw.org/publications/violence-against-women-melanesia-and-timor-leste

Member Organization:

International Center for Research on Women

Black Women, Sexual Assault and the Art of Resistance

Teaser:

Brooke Axtell examines the implications of the statistic that 60 percent of Black girls have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18.

Editorial:

From Forbes:

According to an ongoing study conducted by Black Women’s Blueprint, sixty percent of Black girls have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18. More than 300 Black women nationwide participated in the research project. A similar study conducted by The Black Women’s Health Imperative seven years ago found the rate of sexual assault was approximately 40%.

The pervasive nature of this trauma could translate into an increased risk for Black women and girls to experience depression, PTSD and addiction, common symptoms experienced by many survivors of rape.

The Department of Justice estimates that for every white woman that reports her rape, at least 5 white women do not report theirs; and yet, for every African-American woman that reports her rape, at least 15 African-American women do not report theirs.

There are many reasons why Black women may choose not to report incidences of sexual assault. Survivors of all races often fear that they will not be believed or will be blamed for their attack, but Black women face unique challenges.

[...]

Source:

Forbes

URL:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/shenegotiates/2012/04/25/black-women-sexual-assault-and-the-art-of-resistance/

Date:

April 25, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Shelters turn women away as domestic violence escalates

Teaser:

Slashed funding, strapped donors, underwater mortgages and high unemployment are all causing domestic violence victim's shelters in Florida to turn women away at a time when the need may is greater than usual.

Editorial:

From the Herald-Tribune:

Domestic violence has risen during the economic downturn, and services are eroding.

According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, 92 percent of victim service providers have seen an increased demand in the last year, while 84 percent reported that cutbacks in funding were directly affecting their work.

In Florida, the state’s 42 domestic violence shelters had to turn away 3,352 women in the last fiscal year, said Leisa Wiseman, director of communications and government affairs for the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

[...]

Source:

Herald-Tribune

URL:

http://health.heraldtribune.com/2012/04/23/shelters-turn-women-away-as-domestic-violence-escalates/

Date:

April 24, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Female Circumcision: Police Investigating Claims UK Doctors Advised On Illegal Practice

Teaser:

A report by the Sunday Times says that as many as 100,000 woman in the UK may have been victims of female genital mutilation.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post UK:

Claims that UK doctors were secretly filmed offering to perform and facilitate female circumcision are being investigated by police.

A report by the Sunday Times said that as many as 100,000 woman in Britain may have been victims of the practice, which is illegal.

Female circumcision is performed on young women around the world, but particularly in Africa, on cultural and religious grounds.

The News International newspaper claims to have recorded a dentist in Birmingham, Omar Sheikh Mohamed Addow, describing how the operation could be performed, including details on how the clitoris could be pierced and clamped.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post UK

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/04/23/female-circumcision-police-investigation-uk-doctors_n_1444958.html

Date:

April 24, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

The coming fight over violence against women

Teaser:

Salon outlines each partisan side in the new Violence Against Women Act reauthorization debate.

Editorial:

From Salon:

Reauthorizing the once-bipartisan Violence Against Women Act used to be a matter of Senate routine, but it has now gone the way of debt-ceiling negotiations — into the trenches of partisan warfare. Reading recent reports of the coming Capitol Hill showdown on the VAWA, you would either conclude that Republicans are broadening their assault on women, or Democrats have politicized the bill with various poison pills involving LGBT rights, immigration and Native American communities. What gets lost in both explanations is the merits of the actual changes.

While VAWA has not yet faced a full Senate vote, all Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted in February against reauthorization. Democrats are clearly trying to use this to capitalize on the recent interest in Republican misogyny, which, legislatively speaking, has become mainstreamed in the party. Sen. Dianne Feinstein asserted on the Senate floor last week that “This is one more step in the removal of rights for women.” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shot back Thursday, citing a Politico article to suggest Sen. Chuck Schumer “is sitting up at night trying to figure out a way to create an issue where there isn’t one … to help Democrats get reelected.”

[...]

Source:

Salon.com

URL:

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/the_coming_fight_over_violence_against_women/singleton/

Date:

April 16, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

New tool helps U.S. group track sex crimes in Syria

Teaser:

The Women's Media Center is using new crowd-sourcing techniques to track rape and other sexual violence across Syria in one of the first efforts to monitor assaults against women during military conflict in real-time.

Editorial:

From Reuters:

The effort by the Women's Media Center aims to shed light on such assaults and provide possible evidence to prosecute future human rights violations and war crimes. The group launched its website on Wednesday and said it was working with multiple Syrian activists whom it did not identify.

So far, the group has posted more than 20 reports, including deaths, from May 6, 2011, to March 17 and is verifying others.

Among incidents reported are undated allegations, labeled unverified, from a Palestinian news outlet that Syrian army forces raped 36 women near the villages of Kurin and Sahl Al-Rawj and from a YouTube video in which a man identified as a Syrian military volunteer says government forces kidnapped and raped 25 girls in Homs.

Crowd-sourcing allows the general public to provide information and report events very quickly. Reports can be made on the website, WomenUnderSiegeSyria.crowdmap.com, via e-mail or on Twitter using the hashtag #RapeinSyria.

[...]

Source:

Reuters

URL:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/28/us-usa-syria-rape-internet-idUSBRE82R1F120120328

Date:

April 1, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Violence Against Women Act facing GOP opposition in the Senate

Shyama Venkateswar, Ph.D., director of research and programs, National Council for Research on Women speaks to KPCC's AirTalk program (Pasadena, CA) about the renewal of the Violence against Women Act.

View the article on KPCC's website

Shyama Venkateswar on KPCC (Pasadena, CA) about the Violence against Women Act.

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Debate: Shyama Venkateswar

Submitted by vivhdem on Tue, 03/20/2012 - 3:42pm

Shyama Venkateswar, Ph.D., Director of Research and Programs, was interviewed by Pasadena public radio KPCC on March 19th. AirTalk host Larry Mantle explored the controversy over reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and Republican resistance to expanding the law's provisions to recognize LGBT rights and immigrant women seeking asylum due to domestic violence. Shyama gave a spirited defense of the new proposals and called for greater oversight and analysis of the Act's impact on violence and prevention. Brava! Listen to the interview here: http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2012/03/16/25648/vawa-and-gop.

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Should the Violence Against Women Act Be Reauthorized?

Teaser:

Essays for and against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

Editorial:

From US News & World Report:

The Violence Against Women Act, a groundbreaking piece of legislation addressing domestic and sexual violence, was first enacted in 1994 and then reauthorized in 2000 and 2005. Among the measures the act has taken to protect victims and prevent abuse, the law strengthened the legal action taken against perpetrators of domestic violence and provided services, including rape crisis centers, hotlines, and community support programs, for its victims. Congress is now debating its reauthorization, as the law expired in September, and while it has received broad bipartisan support in the past it has recently come under political fire from some Republican lawmakers who object to provisions which Democrats have added to this year’s reauthorization. Critics specifically object to provisions which would expand the law’s coverage to illegal immigrants, homosexuals, and American Indians, who would have greater authority to persecute non-Indians who commit crimes against American Indian women. Republicans argue that these were purely political additions designed to induce GOP lawmakers to oppose an otherwise popular bill, giving Democrats more ammunition in their campaign argument that Republicans are “anti woman.” Furthermore, some conservative activists object to the law entirely, arguing that it does not cut down on—and might even increase—instances of domestic abuse while overextending the federal government’s jurisdiction. Should the Violence Against Women Act be reauthorized? Here is the Debate Club’s take:

[...]

Source:

US News & World Report

URL:

http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-the-violence-against-women-act-be-reauthorized

Date:

March 20, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

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What We Do

NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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