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"The International Violence Against Women Act, or IVAWA, is a bill that would make ending violence against women worldwide a U.S. foreign-policy priority. The global stats on what women endure speak for themselves: An estimated one out of every three women worldwide will be abused in her lifetime, and in some countries, a third of women report that their first sexual experience was forced, according to the U.S. National Committee for UN Women. I spoke with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the sponsor of the bill, just before she introduced it to Congress yesterday.\nPinterestFacebookFirst of all, what does IVAWA hope to accomplish, exactly? &amp;quot;This would be one of the pillars of U.S. foreign policy to prevent and develop a strategy to protect women from violence,&amp;quot; says Schakowsky. &amp;quot;It creates structural mechanisms in the U.S. State Department and USAID (Agency for International Development) and requires the creation of a comprehensive strategy to combat violence...and it supplements research and reporting standards on violence, so that we can ensure that new methods are effective.&amp;quot;\nEarlier this year, President Obama created the Office of Global Women&amp;#39;s Issues and appointed Catherine Russell the ambassador-at-large for Global Women&amp;#39;s Issues. According to Schakowsky, IVAWA would make that office permanent, in addition to the position of senior coordinator for Gender Equality and Women&amp;#39;s Empowerment at USAID, who is responsible for directing all U.S. efforts relating to gender equality. In other words, there would be a full-time team&amp;#8212;and more, a full-time institution&amp;#8212;looking out for women worldwide.\nThe congresswoman emphasizes that the intention isn&amp;#39;t for the United States to stomp across borders and take over. Rather, the strategy is to &amp;quot;focus on working with local people...working with women on the ground, with the countries themselves.&amp;quot;\nAid would be mainly focused on health programs and survivor services as well as civil and criminal legal and judicial protections. In addition, IVAWA hopes to change public attitudes about women, give women better access to economic opportunities, and create educational opportunities where they&amp;#39;re currently lacking.\n&amp;quot;The research has shown for decades that investing in women is investing in a more peaceful and a more prosperous country. It serves our national interests to address the issue of violence against women,&amp;quot; says Schakowsky. Helping women also helps the countries where they live. &amp;quot;What we find is that countries where violence [against women] is prevalent tend to be the most violent and unstable countries overall.&amp;quot;\nSo why hasn&amp;#39;t this measure, first introduced in 2007, been passed into law? According to Schakowsky, &amp;quot;One of the things Republicans are hesitant about is seeing health and women in the same sentence, they&amp;#39;re concerned that abortion is somehow involved, which it is not. We don&amp;#39;t want this to be a partisan issue. We&amp;#39;re hoping to collect sponsors and get this passed.&amp;quot;\nAs of today, according to The Daily Beast, the bill is gaining support on both sides of the aisle."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/story/post-2-2013-11>