Family Attorney
Violence Puts Women on the Welfare Track
|
|
Re your May 31 news article on Bob Dole’s being confronted in Chicago on his view of welfare: It is important for Presidential candidates to talk about the link between domestic violence and women’s poverty. However, the relationship between the two must be better understood. It is not welfare that causes domestic violence but the reverse. Many women who try to flee abusers often escape with only the clothes on their backs. They have no money, because the abuser controls the finances. The women end up homeless or in a shelter; the welfare system is their only way out of poverty. Our study on the impact of violence on poverty, which focuses on New York City, shows that many women trying to move out of poverty are stalked, beaten and abused by partners. In addition to physical beatings, the report identifies a range of emotionally abusive and controlling behaviors to which the women being studied were subjected to by their partners, undermining their ability to complete job training or stay in jobs. This new research is consistent with evidence emerging from around the country. With each new study, the evidence mounts that more than half of women on welfare are current or past victims of domestic violence. KATHY RODGERS Executive Director, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund New York, May 31, 1996 Source : query.nytimes.com |
Related Articles from Attorney for Family
Politics: Domestic Violence;Dole Is Confronted on His View of Welfare
Bob Dole ventured into a black, drug-infested neighborhood here today and suggested that domestic violence had been produced by the welfare system, a notion that a local social worker immediately upbraided him for. Mr. Dole, the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, was taking part in a roundtable discussion on battered women and abused children at the Anton Dvorak school in the Southlawn section, three miles southwest of the Loop. As a county prosecutor in Russell, Kan., more than 50 years ago, Mr. Dole said he "had to take children away from their parents." He noted that his experience "was a long
First lady urges Congress to take up Violence Against Women Act
First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was joined at the White House Monday by members of Congress, the Clinton Administration and law enforcement to call for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, the 1994 law intended to provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to combat domestic violence. "We are here today to send a clear message that if we want to stop violence against women ... then we must reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act now," the first lady said at the forum. Mrs. Clinton was accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, Sen. Barbara
House approves anti-crime bill to fight violence against women
The House approved a sweeping anti-crime bill Friday that includes more than $3 billion to fight violence against women and seeks to protect women brought into the U.S. by the international illegal sex trade. The catchall legislation also has provisions that would make it easier for victims to collect compensation from terrorist states and would force states to pay costs when a criminal is released from prison and commits a crime in another state. It passed 371-1 and is expected to be approved by the Senate early next week. Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act has been a top priority
Report: Nations are not sufficiently preventing widespread violence against women
UNITED NATIONS Nearly 60 percent of women in Ethiopia are subject to sexual violence by a partner. Domestic violence and rape account for 19 percent of disease in women in developed countries. And in Colombia, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every six days, a study from the United Nations said Tuesday. Violence against women persists at high rates around the world, and governments are not doing enough to prevent it, according to the report from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The report, which synthesized information from various studies conducted in several countries, said while violence against women has been recognized
Crackdown on violence against women
The government has launched the first nationwide strategy to combat violence against women. The 'Living Without Fear' document, launched by Home Secretary Jack Straw, Minister for Women Margaret Jay and Coronation Street actress Sally Whittaker, will be backed by £6.3m for Victim Suppor and £6m for new projects in England and Wales which reduce domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. Women's groups have welcomed the report, but are waiting to see whether more funding will follow later. The report, which comes after a national consultation exercise, covers a range of violence issues, including rape, domestic abuse, and attacks at work. More