An Inconvenient Woman » Domestic Violence

Women’s Safety Needs You to Safeguard

H. Sandra Chevalier-Batik — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:21:45 +0000

Editor’s Note: The followingis aBy commentary by White and Grum reprinted with permission from Women’s Enews. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women’s Enews.

(WOMENSENEWS)–On July 10, 200 anti-violence activists stood outside Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Chicago office, demanding a restoration of funding to domestic and sexual violence services in the state budget.

For Chicago Foundation for Women, which supports social justice issues through grant-making and advocacy, the concern is what is going on locally.

The cuts have forced Rape Victim Advocates, one of the foundation’s long-time grantees, to significantly reduce capacity, worsening the effects of shrunken federal grants last year. Even as it struggles to keep the burden off survivors, the group’s waiting list for counseling is the longest in its history.

Another grantee, Women and Girls Collective Action Network, or CAN, does community organizing to end violence against women of all ages.

Now Women and Girls CAN is turning its attention to the state budget crisis through a partnership with the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network, a membership organization of Cook County domestic violence agencies and allies.

Through rallies and survivors’ stories, these organizations are making the case for a budget with enough revenue to restore anti-violence funding. They say the “lump sum” Illinois budget passed July 15 may leave survivors behind, since it does not specify funding levels for services–and it includes no new revenue.

Add these cuts to the reductions in other state services–such as child care and substance abuse–and women are left with nowhere to turn.

National and Local Tipping Point

This is the local situation that Chicago Foundation for Women faces. The Women’s Funding Network–a global champion for women’s human rights that provides capacity-building services to more than 145 women’s funds–is in touch with this problem nationally.

Between September 2008 and April 2009, 75 percent of 600 domestic violence shelters reported that more women sought help, according to the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation in Dallas.

We are at a tipping point, nationally and locally.

Recently President Obama and Vice President Biden named Lynn Rosenthal as the first White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. We enthusiastically congratulate Rosenthal and thank the administration for selecting such a strong advocate.

Last year, as leader of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Rosenthal helped maintain state funding for anti-violence services despite the worsening economy. Now, Rosenthal will have the ears of many federal departments and we hope they in turn prioritize funding for the obvious programs–namely the Violence Against Women Act and Victims of Crime Act–as well as human trafficking and sexual assault prevention.

Breaking the silence on violence against women is closely tied to the women’s funding movement. Women’s funds were the first to spotlight this problem and provide funding to address its root causes. Now more than ever, we need resources–including from the government–to ensure women’s rights to be safe, healthy and economically secure.

Funding Transforms Lives

Blanca, one of the 200 activists outside Madigan’s office, said through a bullhorn that she was sexually abused as a child and battered by her former husb

What will communities look like without this support? In Illinois, for example, the domestic homicide rate could double or triple without restored funding, according to Dawn Dalton of the Battered Women’s Network.and. Anti-violence programs, many of them strengthened by women’s funds, helped Blanca transform her guilt and worthlessness into strength and passion.

And the economic impacts are just as worrisome.

When women have access to legal aid, counseling, emergency shelter and other services, they are more able to keep their jobs and have fewer expensive emergency health care needs. Women who lose state-funded child care may lose their financial independence, which may in turn prevent them from leaving an abusive partner.

Lynn Rosenthal, we hope you are listening. While Congressional appropriations continue this summer, join with us to ensure women’s human rights are a priority.

Kelly White is the executive director of Chicago Foundation for Women. Chris Grumm is the president and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network.

Women’s eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org

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Veteran Domestic Violence Remains Camouflaged

H. Sandra Chevalier-Batik — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:14:37 +0000

Unintended Consequences of Deployment

I have worked with DoD and Military personal a good portion of my professional life. I have the utmost respect for the men and women who voluntarily serve our country. However, I have always been deeply suspicious of our Government’s attitude and actions concerning returning Vets. Going all the way back to the War of Independence, our country has a long and neglectful history concerning the care of Veterans in post-war periods. I witnessed a callus disregard for the ongoing medical needs our returning troops after Vietnam, the first Gulf War and now with from Afghanistan and Iraq. Regardless of party affiliation, in this, all administrations have been found lacking.

When I read the following article in the eWomen News, I wanted to share it with my readers. It is reprinted with the permission of eWomen news. Please read it carefully. Than ask, what can I do to instigate change? Can your write your federal, State and local representatives and demand more money be spent on Veteran Medical services including health care? If you live in a “Military Town” can you volunteer with an agency that provides outreach to military families? What you go depends on your skills and resources…but I ask of you sincerely, can you stand by and do nothing?

Inconvenient Women step up! We get active!

Editor’s Note: The following is a commentary by Stacy Bannen. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women’s Enews.

(WOMENSENEWS)–The alleged abuse of pop star Rihanna at the hands of singer Chris Brown is a “huge, teachable moment,” according to Oprah Winfrey, who did a show about the topic. Meanwhile, the military community and veterans’ organizations want to improve education and reduce stigma about the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Then why are they so silent about PTSD and the escalation of Veteran Domestic Violence.

“Domestic violence among veterans has reached historic frequency,” Helen Benedict writes in her new book “The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq.” “And post-traumatic stress disorder rates appear to be higher among Iraq war veterans than among those who have served in Afghanistan or even, many believe, in Vietnam. One of the symptoms of this disorder is uncontrollable violence.”

In January of this year, The New York Times reported that charges of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault have risen sharply at Fort Carson, Colorado.

But the fear of repercussions and the immense challenge of going against the Camouflage Code of Silence, which defines the Armed Service’s refusal to acknowledge the war on military wives and women veterans, ensure that most domestic abuse is not reported.

Furthermore, the Department of Defense does not track off-post police reports or claims filed in civilian courts.

Epidemic Minimized

Given the unprecedented deployments of more than half a million citizen soldiers who do not live on base, but have nearly twice the rates of combat-related trauma as active-duty troops and are more likely to be married, it seems obvious that the epidemic of veteran domestic violence is significantly higher than reported.

Case in point: Days after selecting her wedding dress, the fiance of a Marine Corp. Reservist with severe, untreated, post-traumatic stress disorder came home to find her apartment on fire, having been torched by her betrothed, after a series of harassing, threatening, and violent encounters. This friend of mine filed for, and was granted, a restraining order. But she doesn’t count.

The connection between post-war trauma and veteran domestic violence has been extensively documented in earlier wars. Veterans with PTSD are two-to-three times more likely to commit intimate partner violence than veterans without the disorder, according to the Veterans Administration. What remains unspoken is that spouses and girlfriends of male veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are two-to-three times more likely to be victims of domestic violence than women involved with male veterans who do not have the disorcer.

The disregard for domestic collateral damage is evident in this comment from Mike Matthews, a retired Air Force officer studying troops in combat for Army Chief of Staff George Casey. Matthews said soldiers with PTSD “tend to abuse alcohol and their spouses more upon returning from the war zone.” Whiskey or Army wife: six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Hidden War Casualties

In the past five years, hundreds, if not thousands, of women have been beaten, assaulted, or terrorized when their husbands, fiances, or boyfriends got back from Iraq. Dozens of military wives have been strangled, shot, decapitated, dismembered, or otherwise murdered when their husbands brought the war on terror home. These women are as much casualties of war as are the thousands of troops who killed themselves after combat.

There have been multiple spousal murders at Fort Lewis, Fort Bragg and military bases across the country. The victims are human footnotes, not worthy of a place in the national dialogue about veterans, post-war trauma and domestic abuse.

The men who enlisted knew that putting on a uniform meant being willing to die for their country. But as a military wife, I can assure you that not one of us took an oath at the altar saying that we were willing to die for our country at the hands of our husbands.

There is nothing loving, honorable, or patriotic about taking a beating for your nation. I am appalled at the mentality within military culture and civilian society that seems to believe that talking about one of the most horrendous home front costs of war is somehow unpatriotic and anti-veteran.

Being pro-veteran shouldn’t require complicity with or tacit consent to the increasing incidents of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault perpetrated by veterans. If domestic violence is never acceptable, then we can’t make exceptions when military wives and girlfriends are the victims.

If we’re serious about addressing domestic violence, post-traumatic stress disorder and taking care of this country’s veterans, then we have to get honest about what’s really going on in military families. Sometimes the truth hurts — to quote Oprah.

Stacy Bannerman is author of “When the War Came Home: The Inside Story of Reservists and the Families They Leave Behind,” and the creator and director of Sanctuary Weekends for Women Veterans, and Sanctuary Weekends for Wives of Combat Veterans. Her husband is serving his second deployment in Iraq with the Army National Guard 81st Brigade and she can be reached at her Web site http://www.stacybannerman.com .

Women’s eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org . -

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