Violence Against Women Act fights sexual assault for 20 years

Twenty years after then Sen. Joe Biden drafted a bill that brought sexual assault and violence against women to the forefront of American politics, women’s rights advocates are championing how far the nation has come.

The Violence Against Women Act became law Sept. 13, 1994 — the first comprehensive effort at the federal level to raise awareness about an otherwise unspoken issue in the United States.

Once Biden was elected alongside President Barack Obama in 2008, he spearheaded the creation of an Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.

“(Biden) talked about the fact that violence against women used to be this nation’s ‘dirty little secret,’” said Karen Baker, director of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, in an email.

Baker said the act has since been reauthorized to allocate funding for rape prevention and survivor services nationwide and has broadened recognition of who the act protects — including immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community.

“With each time that it’s been reauthorized, you see that there are improvements being made to it,” said Tracy Cox, spokeswoman for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

Christi Hurt, director of UNC’s Carolina Women’s Center, said the number of sexual assault reports has generally decreased, partly due to a growing number of perpetrators being held accountable for their crimes and partly due to the Obama administration’s actions.

“I think that we have made tremendous progress in the past 20 years, and we look forward to another 20 years of supporting our federal government,” she said.

A White House statement from the vice president’s office Tuesday said the act has contributed to decreased domestic violence rates and increased prosecution, conviction and sentencing of perpetrators.

"(VAWA) has helped change a prevailing culture from a refusal to intervene to a responsibility to act,” the statement said.

The year VAWA was introduced, 430,000 cases of rape or sexual assault were reported nationwide, and 346,830 cases were reported in 2012, the most recent year with available data. The numbers tend to fluctuate each year.

Tracking the number of cases has continued to be difficult, Cox said.

She said stigma surrounding the issue and a previously outdated definition of what constitutes rape made it difficult for survivors to report instances of sexual assault, and still, 63 percent of all cases are never reported.

“With these cases as they come to light ... victims and their family members are willing to speak out about it,” Cox said. “We’ve seen a real resiliency as well in victims.”

Women’s rights advocates believe there is still progress to be made.

The White House statement said young women remain disproportionately at risk, and it added that bias continues in the justice system’s response to sexual assault allegations.

Baker said many problems on college campuses and in the military have come to light in the last few years.

“We should note that our culture seems to be making an important shift in values ... that all organizations are rightfully coming under scrutiny ... all are responsible for ensuring the safety and dignity of all people,” she said.

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