VAWnet News Blog

​​​​​​​This October, the Domestic Violence Awareness Project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence will help foster healthy communities by encouraging all of us to be part of the equation “Awareness + Action = Social Change.” This prevention framework offers an opportunity to engage in critical conversations about what Action looks like.

The survey results were released Monday by the elite higher education trade group the Association of American Universities and included responses from 150,072 students at 27 research institutions, with an overall response rate of 19.3 percent. AAU’s survey is one of the largest ever done on sexual violence among college students in the United States.

One in four women in the U.S. has experienced severe violence at the hands of an intimate partner, yet asking for help is often far too dangerous for victims to even consider. That’s what inspired a new grassroots campaign that allows survivors to open up about their experiences without even having to say a word.

A new app gives college students the option to report their assault and 1)  send it directly to their campus Title IX coordinator, the point-person for student investigations. 2) save it and decide whether to file it later, or 3) save, and only file the report if someone else reports an assault by the same perpetrator.

This month marks the 21st anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). President Obama and Vice President Biden have built upon VAWA’s legacy by committing their Administration to rooting out sexual and domestic violence wherever they exist—especially when these crimes affect our nation’s students.

There has been progress – 25 years ago only seven countries out of the 173 studied had laws against domestic violence, whereas now, 127 do. The author of the report cites the importance of international agreements such as the Beijing Platform for Action in creating such change. They certainly are important, but even more vital is the work of local women’s organisations.