December 17, 2008 posted by admin 
All efforts to eliminate poverty, increase access to quality education, provide adequate healthcare, and clean up the environment must be done in the context of respect for women and children. Prevention of violence against women must begin with boys, by challenging traditional understandings of masculinity, eliminating sexism, and teaching new ways of interpersonal interaction. Universal and targeted primary programs aimed at young boys and adolescents would be the main vehicle for accomplishing this. Although poverty and all its associated stresses increase the risk of violence against women, as long as there is sexism and misogynistic beliefs about women, this violence will occur across all socioeconomic strata as men act out their needs for power and control. Greater attention to the atrocities committed against women globally will bring into sharper focus violence against women locally, underscoring violence against women as a human rights issue. I would encourage more support for the Office of Violence Against Women [2] and give it, as well as the Division for Violence Prevention [3] of the Centers for Disease Control, a mandate to fund and evaluate primary prevention programs aimed at eliminating violence against women. --Jacquelyn W. White, PhD, Interim Associate Dean for Research, College of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro [4] This post is part of a forum [5]