02/13/2013
Say Something About Violence Against Women
Marianne Winters, Executive Director
Safe Passage, Inc.
Formerly the whispered secrets of women too bruised, battered, and violated to be visible, violence against women has gained recognition as a widespread and complex social problem. Rising up from feminist activism and based on emerging voices of survivors, domestic violence and sexual assault organizations have grown to become significant contributors to the social change landscape and important collaborators at the community, state, national, and international levels. As the movement has grown, so too has the research base, best practices and models, and interconnections between and among the wide range of issues and services that encompass our human service and social change network.
In 1994, after 20 or so years of advocacy in the states and at the national level, Congress first passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). This legislation was heralded as the first time that the federal government supported broad and practical solutions to the issues of violence against women. VAWA was crafted with input from a multi-disciplinary and diverse group of experts in the fields of domestic violence and sexual assault response, law enforcement, emergency medicine, civil and probate legal issues, education, research, policy development, and government. The process was then, and continues to be, evidence based and collaborative, requiring sophisticated analysis of the research and skilled collaboration and innovation.
As a result of the collaborations and initiatives supported by VAWA, Massachusetts communities are safer and more aware, with community responses that are coordinated and relevant for victims, while providing avenues for accountability of offenders. VAWA assures that restraining orders that were granted in one state can be enforced in another state. It provides safety for immigrants who were dependent on their abuser’s status to escape violence from their abuser without being deported. In counties across Massachusetts, VAWA provides funding for shelters, advocacy, culturally specific services, research, and coordinated efforts.
VAWA is up for reauthorization, and for the first time in more than 15 years, the good that is accomplished through this legislation is being challenged for the sake of partisan political maneuvering. There is nothing Democratic or Republican about efforts that seek to reduce one of the major causes of death and injury to women, children, and men in the U.S. Domestic violence affects people who are served by every organization, school, hospital, neighborhood council, faith community, child care center, and civic organization.
As of Wednesday, January 23, 2013, VAWA has been reintroduced. As advocates lead the fight toward its reauthorization, it is my hope that our colleagues from across the public and private sectors will add your voices and champion the continued progress accomplished through the Violence Against Women Act
At Safe Passage, our message to our community is clear and simple – Say Something. Use your voice to tell your elected officials that you won’t tolerate stalling tactics that prevent women from reaching safety. Use your words to tell a friend that the violence committed against her was not her fault. Say something to a friend who tells sexist jokes or otherwise demeans women. Say something to your children, to your students, to your patients, to your teammates, to your neighbors. Silence is the incubator for more violence against women. Say something and the world will be that much safer.
Finally, spend an hour on February 14 at Tower Square in Springfield, MA and join the billion others who will be gathering on that day across the world. You can say something with your presence, by learning something from the speakers, by singing and dancing for freedom and liberation from violence against women. Every time someone takes a stand, we are closer to ending violence against women. Show up, say something, know that it matters.
