The statistics concerning women and violence are staggering: An estimated one out of every three women in the world will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime. At least 200 million women and girls alive today have undergone female genital mutilation, and almost 750 million were married before they turned 18.
These are the women we must remember today on International Women’s Day. Too often forgotten and abused by the patriarchies that surround them, these are the women whose rights we must defend and whose well-being we must look after. While they make up about half of refugee populations, only 4 percent of projects in U.N. interagency appeals were targeted at women and girls in 2014.
At Jewish World Watch, we help through a host of efforts. These include supporting a women’s center for young mothers who become pregnant as a result of rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where we also are part of a mass education campaign against sexual and gender-based violence. We’ve built a center for girls separated from their families by war in the DRC as well, and supported an innovative program in the country that mentors men to value and respect women.
You can do something, too. The U.S. House of Representatives recently introduced H.R. 5034, the International Violence Against Women Act of 2018 (IVAWA), which would put into law a comprehensive strategy for the U.S. government to better prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence around the world. The bill would:
- Permanently establish the Office of Global Women’s Issues in the State Department
- Codify a gender-based violence strategy for the U.S. government
- Ensure that gender-based violence prevention strategies are included in U.S. government humanitarian efforts and enhance emergency response mechanisms to sexual and gender-based violence around the world.
Tell your Representative: Everyone has the right to live free of violence. Click below and send them a letter to encourage them to support the International Violence Against Women Act.
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For the full text of the legislation, introduced by Representative Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), click here.