The
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was unanimously reauthorized
by Congress late last year. Funding for the act's various programs,
however, is far from assured. For the fifth year in a row, President
Bush's budget request did not provide full funding for existing VAWA
programs and, because it was passed after the budget proposal for 2007
had already been drafted, no funding was requested for the new VAWA
programs that were also approved by Congress. Of the $1 billion
authorized by Congress, the President’s budget requested only$546.2
million.
“The reason that VAWA is so important is
that it provides resources and tools that communities need to not only
address but also end violence against women. VAWA 2005 expands upon
current programs and provides the first federal funding stream that
supports sexual assault programs,” explained Cheryl O’Donnell,
Communications Director of the
National Network to
End Domestic Violence.
However the sexual assault programs, along with other new
programming including services for children who witness abuse, sexual
assault services, privacy protections for victims of violence, programs
for communities of color and Indian women, and prevention programs that
encourage men and boys to take a role in ending violence against women
are not included in the President’s budget proposal. In addition, the
budget that Congress is considering does not include the full funding
that had already been approved for existing VAWA programs such as the
National Domestic Violence Hotline, the Family Violence Prevention and
Services Act, shelter services, rape prevention and education programs,
services for older and disabled victims of violence, legal assistance
for victims of violence and transitional housing programs.
According to Irene Weiser, Executive Director of
Stop Family Violence, “Full VAWA funding is needed because
violence against women and girls ruins lives, ruins futures, ruins
society. People have no idea how pervasive violence against women is,
nor how damaging its effects.”
Every year an estimated two million women and one million children
are severely assaulted in the U.S. According to Weiser, “The effects of
all these forms of violence are devastating and can last a lifetime.”
A history of abuse is highly correlated with many social problems
including problems in school, mental and physical health disorders,
substance abuse, homelessness, prostitution, teen and out of wedlock
pregnancy, adult criminality and becoming victims or perpetrators of
abuse as adults. Adult victims of abuse, most of whom are women, suffer
long term emotional, physical and social consequences from the abuse and
are at higher risk for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder,
suicide and a variety of health problems.
The cost to society for the direct physical and mental health
consequences of abuse alone are roughly $4 billion per year. Domestic
violence is a frequent cause of job problems as well, costing employers
an estimated $10 billion annually. Victims of domestic violence are at
high risk of poverty, 2/3 of welfare recipients are victims of domestic
or sexual violence and 1/3 of welfare recipients are currently being
abused and rely on welfare and other forms of public assistance to
escape the abuse and rebuild their lives. Over 90% of homeless women
have experienced domestic or sexual violence, 40% of domestic violence
victims will be homeless at some point in their lives and a majority of
women in prison have been victims of severe abuse.
Clearly, the human and social cost of violence against women is
staggering and that is precisely why full funding for VAWA is so
critical. According to Stop Family Violence, research has found that
VAWA has saved nearly $14.8 billion dollars in net averted social costs
in its first six years. Even more importantly, studies show that rates
of domestic violence and sexual assault have declined since VAWA was
begun.
Personal violence is no less terrifying than political violence. Given
the demonstrable benefits of VAWA, by comparison to the hundreds of
billions spent on the War on Terror, $1 billion dollars would be money
well spent.
Lucinda Marshall is a feminist
artist, writer and activist. She is the Founder of the
Feminist Peace Network. Her work has been published in numerous
publications in the U.S. and abroad including, Awakened Woman,
Alternet, Dissident Voice, Off Our Backs, The
Progressive, Rain and Thunder, Z Magazine, Common
Dreams and Information Clearinghouse.
Other Articles by Lucinda Marshall
*
President
Bush’s Ken-Doll Performance an Insult to Women
* How Hot
Does it Have to Get?
* 30,000
Iraqis, More or Less
* We're
Melting
* The
Turning Point
* Geena
in 2008
* Before
There Are 2,000 More
* The
Booby Trap: Does Breast Cancer Awareness Save Lives? A Call to Re-think
the Pink
* Were
Women Raped in New Orleans?
* Why I
Do Not Support The Troops
* The
Democratic Unravelling
* Child
for Sale: The Corporate Takeover of Our Classrooms
* The
Dead Children's Society
* Media
Exclusion of Women as Sources Impedes Meaningful Reform
*
Military Pollution: The Quintessential Universal Soldier
*
Honoring the Lives of Women in Perilous Times
* Why We
are Horrified by the Destructive Forces of Nature but Accept Our Own
Violence
* The
Financial Immorality of American Generosity
* The
Surreality Show: Stranger than Fiction
* (Not)
In The News: Media Culpability in the Continuum of Violence Against
Women
*
Yanar
Mohammed on the Impact of the US Occupation on the Lives of Iraqi Women
* The
Misogynist Undercurrents of Abu Ghraib