With Women Literally Under Attack, Funders Must Invest More in Ending Gender-Based Violence

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and each year around this time, I reflect on how far this country has come since Congress first passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994, and on the monumental strides made in the fight against gender-based violence and domestic abuse thanks to this critical legislation. The programs under VAWA help provide shelter, legal assistance and counseling to survivors, which not only helps survivors on their road to healing, but also helps them avoid further harm.

I know firsthand from the hundreds of clients I’ve represented how these vital resources can make the difference between life and death for survivors and their families. But for all of the accomplishments of VAWA for survivors, so much work remains to end violence against women, particularly immigrant women and women of color.

Immigrant women and girls continue to face barriers in accessing the protections offered by VAWA, including language barriers, lack of awareness and fear of retaliation. More than 2 in 5 Black women have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

While government funding is a helpful start, we can’t rely only on those heavily restricted funds to make lasting, systemic change. Nonprofit organizations are doing the hard work of providing services, preventing harm, building movements and educating lawmakers.

Philanthropy — with the power to make unrestricted investments — has an opportunity to change the tides in the movement to end gender-based violence.

There is a massive resource gap, however. Foundation and donor giving toward ending violence against women remains virtually nonexistent. According to a recent report by the United Nations, only 0.0002% of COVID-19 donor support went toward ending gender-based violence, even though violence against women and girls intensified during the pandemic. And just 1.6% of philanthropy in the U.S. supports ending gender-based violence.

You read those statistics correctly.

This is shocking considering that 1 in 3 women in the U.S. experience intimate partner violence, 1 in 6 women experience sexual assault or rape, and that every minute, at least 20 women experience violence simply because of their gender. Although women make up more than half the population in the U.S., we experience outrageous rates of violence and lack the structural power to fight back.

Meanwhile, between 2010 and 2015, at least $6 billion in private money was spent in the U.S. to limit the rights, health, wellbeing and safety of women, girls and the LGBTQIA+ community.

We are seeing this massive financial investment show tangible returns in the form of harmful and detrimental court decisions, laws and policies enacted rapidly across the country that tear at the rights of women. Emboldened state legislatures are passing laws at breakneck speed targeting transgender youth and criminalizing anyone seeking gender-affirming care. Women continue to be the subject of harmful policies undermining their dignity to live freely simply because they are women, and remain targets for harmful sexist violence and trauma.

Now is the time to mount a full-scale campaign to end gender-based violence and safeguard the laws that ensure everyone’s rights are protected. But this effort cannot and should not be seen as solely a “women’s issue” or a “gender issue.” Philanthropic investment in ending violence against women means breaking down silos across issues so that we can create safe opportunities for women to lead.

Millions of dollars invested in fighting the impacts of climate change and the erosion of U.S. democracy will be worthless if there is negligible investment in ending gender-based violence and little action taken to ensure a safe environment for women to lead on these very issues we all face as a nation.

If the threat of domestic and sexual violence and the enduring trauma of violence no longer existed, more women would run for public office, build careers in public service and hold corporate leadership positions. More women would have a seat at the table creating a government and a democracy that is truly of, by and for the people – particularly considering that women make up a majority of the U.S. population and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Foundation giving must ensure that advocates and organizations working to end gender-based violence feel empowered to conduct this critical advocacy without the looming threat of potential administrative or financial instability.

These organizations and advocates, who work tirelessly on policy change and direct services, and many of whom are survivors themselves, should not have to simultaneously lead on this work while bearing the burden of budget cuts and dwindling financial support.

We have an opportunity to meet the urgency of the moment to change the structures, systems, laws and policies that allow violence to continue at alarming rates.

VAWA alone will not be enough. If we truly are conscious of which people hold power in our country, and of which people lead the charge to fight for a progressive future, then we must all commit to investing more of our time and resources to ending violence against women.

Archi Pyati is CEO of Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit that supports immigrant survivors of gender-based violence.

Featured