California Urges Congress to Approve International Violence Against Women Act
California Political Desk
June 18, 2010
SACRAMENTO – Thursday, the California Legislature approved a resolution authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) urging the US Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). The Assembly approved the measure on a bipartisan 54-1 vote, while the Senate previously approved the resolution on a 24-0 vote.
The International Violence Against Women Act, currently pending in Congress, would task the US Agency for International Development and the Department of State to develop strategies and direct resources to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls throughout the world. The Act would include collecting data and conducting research about violence prevention efforts, enhance training of military and police forces on violence against women, and authorize $5,000,000 to support the United Nations´ efforts to eliminate violence against women.
"Violence against women is rooted in many causes and takes many forms throughout all parts of the world," said Yee. "It is imperative that while we attempt to end violence against women in our own communities, we support global efforts to combat this injustice everywhere. SJR 24 will send a very clear message to Washington: ending and preventing violence against women should be a priority of our foreign policy."
According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in three women in the world will experience violence in her lifetime, and one in five of the women in the world will be the victim of rape or attempted rape. A United Nations study on the global AIDS epidemic found that in sub-Saharan Africa, women who are 15 to 24 years of age can be infected at rates that are up to six times higher than men of the same age.
Violence against women is an impediment to the health, opportunity, and development of not only women, but has an enormous, negative impact on the well-being of their children and the greater society. Violence against women impoverishes women, their families, their communities and nations. It lowers economic production, drains resources from public services and employers, and reduces human capital formation.
Greater gender equality has been proved to lead to improved nutrition, lower child mortality, less government corruption, higher productivity, and reduced HIV infection rates. Increased access to economic opportunities is crucial to the prevention of and response to domestic and sexual violence. Campaigns to change social norms, including community organizing, media campaigns, and efforts to engage and educate men and boys, have been shown to change attitudes that condone and tolerate violence against women and girls and reduce violence and abuse.
"Around the world, one in every three women will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime; and in some countries the rate of violence against women reaches 70 percent," said JoDee Winterhof, vice president of policy and advocacy for CARE, an international humanitarian organization. "Violence against women and girls is both a cause and consequence of poverty, and legislation such as IVAWA will help prevent it from undermining global poverty-fighting investments in education, HIV/AIDS prevention, and economic growth. The introduction of IVAWA tells the world that the United States believes that any type of abuse of women and girls is unacceptable."
According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID): 70 percent of people worldwide living in poverty are women and children, two-thirds of the illiterate adults in the world are women, two-thirds of school-aged children who are not in school are girls, more than three-quarters of the refugees in the world are women and children, and 1,600 women die unnecessarily every day during pregnancy and childbirth.
"We thank Senator Yee for his ongoing leadership on critically important measures to stop violence against women and help victims, and for introducing this joint resolution," said Family Violence Prevention Fund President Esta Soler. "No woman or girl deserves to be beaten or raped – not here or anywhere in the world. That is why we urgently need Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, and why this joint resolution, which would put California on record as supporting passage, is so important."
The International Violence Against Women Act, currently pending in Congress, would task the US Agency for International Development and the Department of State to develop strategies and direct resources to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls throughout the world. The Act would include collecting data and conducting research about violence prevention efforts, enhance training of military and police forces on violence against women, and authorize $5,000,000 to support the United Nations´ efforts to eliminate violence against women.
"Violence against women is rooted in many causes and takes many forms throughout all parts of the world," said Yee. "It is imperative that while we attempt to end violence against women in our own communities, we support global efforts to combat this injustice everywhere. SJR 24 will send a very clear message to Washington: ending and preventing violence against women should be a priority of our foreign policy."
According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in three women in the world will experience violence in her lifetime, and one in five of the women in the world will be the victim of rape or attempted rape. A United Nations study on the global AIDS epidemic found that in sub-Saharan Africa, women who are 15 to 24 years of age can be infected at rates that are up to six times higher than men of the same age.
Violence against women is an impediment to the health, opportunity, and development of not only women, but has an enormous, negative impact on the well-being of their children and the greater society. Violence against women impoverishes women, their families, their communities and nations. It lowers economic production, drains resources from public services and employers, and reduces human capital formation.
Greater gender equality has been proved to lead to improved nutrition, lower child mortality, less government corruption, higher productivity, and reduced HIV infection rates. Increased access to economic opportunities is crucial to the prevention of and response to domestic and sexual violence. Campaigns to change social norms, including community organizing, media campaigns, and efforts to engage and educate men and boys, have been shown to change attitudes that condone and tolerate violence against women and girls and reduce violence and abuse.
"Around the world, one in every three women will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime; and in some countries the rate of violence against women reaches 70 percent," said JoDee Winterhof, vice president of policy and advocacy for CARE, an international humanitarian organization. "Violence against women and girls is both a cause and consequence of poverty, and legislation such as IVAWA will help prevent it from undermining global poverty-fighting investments in education, HIV/AIDS prevention, and economic growth. The introduction of IVAWA tells the world that the United States believes that any type of abuse of women and girls is unacceptable."
According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID): 70 percent of people worldwide living in poverty are women and children, two-thirds of the illiterate adults in the world are women, two-thirds of school-aged children who are not in school are girls, more than three-quarters of the refugees in the world are women and children, and 1,600 women die unnecessarily every day during pregnancy and childbirth.
"We thank Senator Yee for his ongoing leadership on critically important measures to stop violence against women and help victims, and for introducing this joint resolution," said Family Violence Prevention Fund President Esta Soler. "No woman or girl deserves to be beaten or raped – not here or anywhere in the world. That is why we urgently need Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, and why this joint resolution, which would put California on record as supporting passage, is so important."
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