The Violence Against Women (VAWA) Act
What is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)?
VAWA is bipartisan legislation, originally passed in 1994, that provides protections for women and children suffering from violence and abuse. It supports comprehensive, trauma-informed, and cost-effective responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. This includes prevention, education, prosecution, and survivor services programs at the federal, tribal, state, and local levels.
Some of these services and programs include:
- Efforts, including funding, to address rape kit backlogs
- Housing assistance, counseling, and legal clinics for survivors
- Data collection on stalking and domestic violence
- Increased protection for immigrants, trafficking victims, and LGBTQ+ victims
- Authority for Native tribes to enforce tribal laws pertaining to domestic and intimate partner violence and related crimes against non-tribal members, and funding to address the MMIW epidemic
Since VAWA’s enactment, the rate of intimate partner violence has decreased by 64 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Rates of other forms of violence against women and children have similarly decreased. While not due entirely to VAWA, it is well accepted that VAWA has played a huge role in this reduction.
VAWA must be reauthorized and updated every five years to remain funded. It was supposed to be reauthorized in 2019 but hasn’t been since 2013. The current bill recently passed the House but has stalled in the Senate. Patchwork fixes have allowed current services to remain funded, but this is not a permanent or sustainable fix. So far, Congress has chosen to continue to keep the programs funded despite the lapse in reauthorization since 2018.
Why is it necessary?
“Every human being is endowed with rights that governments are obligated to protect and not violate. These include both universal human rights such as the rights to life and liberty, as well as civil rights such as the rights to equitable political representation and equal protection under the law (see D&C 134:1-2).” — MWEG’s Principles of Ethical Government
Women and children have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and it is the government’s responsibility to remove barriers and secure to us our inalienable rights. Unfortunately, laws have not always been established, executed, and interpreted to protect women and children from domestic abuse or other forms of violence. The “rule of law” has only slowly come to protect such victims. VAWA was a significant improvement — one that Congress has a duty to respect.
Since 1994, VAWA has been a legislative priority. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 1994 to 2010, the rate of intimate partner violence in the U.S. declined by 64 percent. While VAWA is not the sole reason for this drop, and while surveys report varying statistics, VAWA has played a role in keeping victims of violence — women and children in particular — safer from such crimes. Likewise, other forms of violence against women have also decreased.
Statistics and impact on women
The number of women and children affected by violence is staggering. VAWA provides assistance to prevent and respond to these crimes.
While statistics vary by source and state, some estimates suggest that in the U.S. about one in three women face domestic violence, one in four experience sexual assault, one in six experience stalking, and one in six experience rape during their lifetimes. These numbers are even higher among Black women, women of color, immigrant women, Indigenous women, women with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ women.
Homicide is the fifth leading cause of death for women between the ages of 20–44 years old. For women ages 1–19, homicide is the fourth leading cause of death. Additionally, some studies have found that domestic and intimate partner violence is a major contributor to the maternal mortality rate, which has increased in the U.S. and is three to four times higher for Black women.
Given these statistics, we know that many of the women in our communities, including our MWEG community, have experienced these crimes and benefited from services funded through VAWA. Just as secure and guaranteed VAWA funding has been essential to the safety and wholeness of our families and communities in the past and present, it will be vital in the future.
Importance of VAWA funding
VAWA is one of the major sources of funding for these efforts at all levels. Notably, VAWA funds the Office on Violence Against Women grants (OVW grants), which are crucial in helping to provide the services mentioned above and also in helping underserved populations, such as those in rural areas or persons with disabilities.
The laws passed in 2013 (the last reauthorization of VAWA) remain intact — there is no expiration date to the currently enacted laws. However, the funding for the programs and services provided under VAWA is not permanent or guaranteed and has to be reauthorized every five years.
Advocates continue to stress the importance of a fully reauthorized VAWA, which will ensure the funding remains available for needed programs and services, as well as allowing for changes to better reduce violent crime against women and provide better services that help empower many women to leave and heal from abusive situations. Without a fully reauthorized VAWA, these programs will be impacted in the long term, limiting their ability to provide services.
Conclusion
VAWA funds programs that are critical for survivors as well as research that helps inform how to best prevent and address violence against women. We need legislators to work together and engage in good faith to come up with workable solutions to reauthorize VAWA and protect women from violence.
Sources
Learn more about VAWA:
https://nhlp.org/files/VAWA-2013-Packet.pdf
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45410.pdf
See more statistics about violent crimes against women and children:
https://ncadv.org/STATISTICS
https://www.rainn.org/statistics
