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NEWS FROM THE HOMEFRONT |
FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION FUND |
| SPRING 2000 |
Contents |
New Outreach Tools for the Health Clinic Setting
A health care clinic worker comforts a tearful woman who sits on an exam table. The caption reads: "Feeling alone? Don't know who to talk to? Is someone hurting you? Talk to your health care provider. We can help." This is just one poster from the new series of public awareness materials for use in health care clinics released by the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) in March. Part of the FVPF's California Clinic Collaborative on Domestic Violence, the posters, safety cards and buttons all encourage patients facing domestic violence to seek help from their health care providers.
The Clinic Collaborative, funded by The California Endowment, works with twenty community health clinics throughout the state to help them implement comprehensive domestic violence intervention strategies. The clinics represent a broad spectrum of health care providers and a very diverse patient population. The project focuses on improving the clinical response, public policy issues and public education.
With comprehensive input from clinic representatives, the FVPF created materials for victims, batterers, teenagers, and gays and lesbians, as well as for the general public. For victims, materials were created in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Russian, with culturally-specific images designed to reach Caucasians, African Americans, Latinas, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. The materials were designed for readers of most literacy levels.
"Every woman sees a health care provider at some point in her life," says FVPF Communications Specialist Kristie Wang. "These clinics are a crucial link in reaching women and their families who might not ordinarily seek help for abuse. Many clinics serve the most needy of California's communities. They often have the first opportunity to respond to women in crisis, and maintain on-going relationships with their patients. They want the community to know that the clinic can help."
The new clinic outreach materials can be used by hospitals, health facilities and clinics nationwide; the messages used are not California-specific. To order, call the FVPF's publications line at (415) 252-8089.
Danger in a Small Town:
The Impact of Domestic Violence in Rural Communities
By Esta Soler
In a recent survey conducted by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, domestic violence service providers from across the country voiced their opinions about the challenges they face in their efforts to stop the epidemic of abuse. It was noteworthy that domestic violence advocates in rural areas responded at the highest rate, and with passionate accounts of a critical need for services and support for battered women in rural communities.
Victims of domestic violence who live in rural areas face special challenges. While batterers tend to isolate their victims in any geographic setting, for women in rural areas, this isolation is often even more severe. They may live miles from their nearest neighbor, friend or family member. Lack of available childcare, few job opportunities, inadequate public transportation, distance from shelters and services, and poverty and economic dependence are just some of the barriers that can make escaping a violent relationship even harder for rural women.
A lack of anonymity and confidentiality also makes it more difficult for victims of abuse to come forward and seek help. In small towns, it can seem as if everyone knows everyone else. Judges and police officers who know both a batterer and his victim socially may be less likely to recognize the severity of an assault. Underserved rural populations, including immigrants, African Americans, Native Americans, and gays and lesbians, face additional barriers as well.
At the FVPF, many of our programs target the pressing needs of rural victims of domestic violence:
Unique qualities of life in rural America affect how women there experience domestic violence. Collaborations with others in the community will help domestic violence advocates capitalize on potential sources of help. Working in rural areas can be isolating, and networking can also go a long way to support domestic violence advocates. We all know how important it is to address issues of race and class when we design our programs. It is also key that we remember geography, as well.
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| PHOTO: MONICA ARENAS |
New Rural Leadership Project Manual Available
Hot off the press, a new manual produced by the FVPF details how to help immigrant women become leaders in the fight against domestic violence in their communities. The Rural Leadership Project Manual is an outcome of recent trainings funded by the U. S. Department of Justice's Violence Against Women Office.
Late last year, two Rural Immigrant Women Leadership Trainings were held for projects in Iowa and Texas. Seventy women, all Spanish speakers and mostly domestic violence survivors, were trained in leadership skills and community organizing around abuse. They discussed barriers that hinder rural immigrant women from escaping violent homes, including a lack of resources in their native languages, fear of deportation, cultural insensitivity and discrimination by police and service providers, and more.
Project partners included the FVPF, the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Lideres Campesinas, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
"The manual is based on the assumption that immigrant women are their own best advocates, and are best able to assist other battered immigrants," says Monica Arenas, Program Assistant at the FVPF. "They can gain the trust of immigrant communities better than an outsider, and they know what the problems they face are and how to develop solutions."
The manual discusses how to create an immigrant leadership project, from assessing resources to identifying and developing a women's group to bringing the women together and providing leadership training. It also outlines steps for sustaining the group and achieving long-term goals.
To order the Rural Leadership Project Manual, call the Family Violence Prevention Fund's publications line at (415) 252-8089.
Advocates Identify Challenges in New Survey
Despite the booming economy, domestic violence service providers are still in desperate need of funding. That is one of the key findings of a nationwide survey of domestic violence service providers that was conducted by the FVPF last fall. Approximately 3,000 surveys were distributed and nearly 500 were returned, providing important information about the challenges facing the domestic violence movement and important needs that must be addressed.
Survey respondents clearly identify lack of funding as the issue having the greatest negative impact on their ability to serve battered women and prevent domestic violence. Just one percent of respondents do not view funding as a problem, while 73 percent identify it as a barrier with major impact. Sixty-five percent say the Violence Against Women Act is having major positive impact on the response to domestic violence.
Most respondents also say that battered women's fear of seeking help (67 percent) and insensitivity by police and law enforcement (64 percent) are barriers that have a major impact. Nearly half of respondents (48 percent) view federal welfare reform as having a negative impact.
A high percentage of survey respondents (35 percent) came from rural areas. Rural domestic violence service providers expressed feelings of isolation, stressing the need for resources and programs that are easily accessible and outreach plans specifically designed for rural communities.
On the positive side, respondents are confident about the services they directly provide, with 55 percent ranking services for women as good or excellent. Most also see improvements in community-based domestic violence programs (60 percent) and public awareness (59 percent), along with increased public willingness to address domestic violence.
The survey results offer a challenge to funders, advocates and lawmakers to better meet the needs identified by domestic violence service providers. Already, many programs are being shaped to meet the needs expressed in the survey. "The FVPF is working with our national, state and local partners around the country to develop programs that will address all of the areas identified in the survey," says FVPF Executive Director Esta Soler.
Backlash:
Responding to the Far Right's Attack on the Battered Women's Movement
For years, the far right has worked to turn back the clock for women. The right wing agenda includes outlawing abortion, attacking gay and lesbian rights, ending income assistance programs that primarily benefit women, and much more. In ways large and small, the far right has steadily worked to force women into traditional roles and rob them of equality in their jobs, their relationships, and their lives.
INFLUENCING THE DEBATE ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
As the nation begins to acknowledge the pervasiveness of domestic violence and to address its impact, leaders of the far right are targeting the issue. Because these commentators are often published in major national newspapers and featured on news and talk shows, they have the potential to misdirect the public debate on this issue.
Each victory for battered women's advocates, each success in putting domestic violence front and center on the nation's agenda, has spawned attacks and challenges. The debate over and enactment of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which dramatically increased federal spending on domestic violence, generated powerful right wing challenges that continue today.
"The increasingly vocal opposition is a measure of how much we have accomplished," says FVPF Executive Director Esta Soler. "Americans know more than ever about the prevalence and devastating cost of domestic violence. They understand that abuse affects us all. And they want the officials they elect to take this issue seriously and devote real resources to finding solutions."
TACTICS OF THE FAR RIGHT
The attacks on domestic violence are generally carried out with finesse rather than with the blunt rhetoric that characterizes right wing attacks on other issues. Their tactics are discreet: generally, spokespeople affiliated with these groups use academic or professional credentials rather than publicly acknowledging an affiliation with the organized far right. Women are frequently the spokespeople for attacks on domestic violence prevention efforts.
The far right's media outreach work is extensive. The conservative Independent Women's Forum, for example, distributes a string of opinion articles for newspapers, maintains a speakers' bureau, publishes an antifeminist journal, and places spokespeople on a variety of television and radio programs. Other prominent rightwing groups targeting women include Phyllis Schafly's Eagle Forum and Beverly LaHaye's Concerned Women for America.
Reviewing the far right's public attacks on the domestic violence movement, one can find many common themes:
The authors take care to acknowledge that abuse is indeed a terrible thing -- but contend that only a tiny number of women are affected by it. This tactic is often combined with challenges to data on the prevalence of abuse.
They assert that while violence in the home is bad, the reality is that women are as likely as men to commit violence in relationships. The far right claims to be concerned that exaggerated claims about the incidence of battering and misguided theories as to its causes prevent "real" work to find solutions.
The far right mischaracterizes theories that relate gender roles in our society and abuse.
RESPONDING TO THE FAR RIGHT
In 2000, the FVPF is expanding its efforts to challenge the proponents of the backlash by identifying and training more community leaders and spokespeople -- among them health care providers, judges, service providers, individuals affected by abuse, researchers and academics, and prominent policy makers -- to respond to these attacks.
"We intend to help amplify the voices of experts who can counter the false claims and misleading arguments made by our opponents," Soler says. "But the best people to speak out on this issue are the ones who have been personally affected by domestic violence -- people whose own experiences cut through the rhetoric and convey the terrible impact of this epidemic."
If you're interested in sharing your story about domestic violence in an effort to combat the far right, contact us at the FVPF at fund@fvpf.org.
EGYPT -- The Egyptian parliament voted to give women the ability to divorce their husbands without first having to prove to a judge that they had been mistreated. Opponents of the bill argued that Islamic law permits only men the right to initiate divorce. Under the previous Egyptian law, a Muslim man could end a marriage by saying "I divorce thee" to his wife three times, or by filing a paper with a government registrar declaring that he is divorcing his wife.
NATIONAL -- Wal-Mart has stopped selling a professional wrestling doll that carries the head of a female mannequin, after receiving complaints that the toy makes light of violence against women. The doll depicts World Wrestling Federation (WWF) wrestler Al Snow, who carries a female mannequin's head into the ring when he competes. Snow's doll carried a female doll head with "Help Me" written across its forehead.
NATIONAL -- During the first year of computerized instant criminal background checks, more than 160,000 people were barred from buying a handgun, the U. S. Justice Department reports. Of the prospective buyers denied firearms after FBI checks, 12 percent had been convicted of domestic violence offenses. In a statement, President Clinton said, "These are not just numbers. They represent lives saved, injuries avoided, tragedies averted."
NEW YORK -- Nineteen-year-old Columbia University sophomore Kathleen Roskot was murdered by her former boyfriend, Thomas Nelford, on February 5, 2000. Roskot, a lacrosse and soccer player at Columbia, was found in her dormitory with her throat slashed. Nelford, a one-time student at Columbia, committed suicide by jumping in front of a New York City subway train shortly after killing Roskot. The New York Times reported that Roskot and Nelford recently ended their relationship, which began last fall.
MARYLAND -- In March 2000, Maryland's female legislators voted to file a formal complaint against a Montgomery County judge who told an eleven-year-old girl that she was partly to blame for being molested. Circuit Court Judge Durke Thompson told the girl, "it takes two to tango" because she invited her molester, a 23-year-old man, into her house after meeting him in an Internet chatroom. The legislators filed the complaint with the Commission on Judicial Disabilities, claiming Judge Thompson's remarks violated the state's code of judicial conduct and citing his "pattern of similar bias in other rape and sexual assault cases," reports APBNews.com. In a letter written in support of the complaint, attorney Maureen Quinn said she steered domestic violence cases to other courts because of Judge Thompson's bias.
CALIFORNIA -- A domestic violence organization has filed a lawsuit against Pacific Bell for publishing the address of a battered women's shelter in a 1998 telephone book. The lawsuit claims that spouses of battered women have come to the shelter because the address was published in the white pages, after repeated requests to keep it confidential. The lawsuit alleges that this has happened at least twice before in Northern California. Since the publication of its address, the shelter has changed its name and increased security. The lawsuit states that as a "direct result of the Pac Bell's publication of the address, [the shelter] instituted a policy of not allowing women whose batterers have a history of extreme violence to stay at the shelter."
NEW MEXICO -- USA Today reports that the Navajo Nation Council is reviewing a measure that would make family violence a crime, spell out the rights of victims and expand the Navajo Nation criminal code to include 24 new offenses that involve family members. The paper reports that, of the 600 total major crimes reported on the reservation in 1999, 32 percent involved domestic violence.
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New Board Chair Ushered in at Chicago Event
More than 120 guests gathered to mark the election of Sunny Fischer as the new chair of the FVPF's Board of Directors on February 10 in Chicago. Fischer, a Board member since 1998, is the executive director of Chicago's Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and has a long history working to improve the lives of women and children. The event was held at the headquarters of the Sara Lee Corporation, which graciously sponsored the gathering.
"We wanted to introduce Sunny as the new chair of the Board to her community," says FVPF Executive Director Esta Soler, "and we wanted to introduce Chicago to the FVPF. We were delighted by the strong response."
The event was co-hosted by Jamie Kalven, author, activist and fellow FVPF Board member; Patrick Sheahan, deputy director of the Sara Lee Foundation; and Leslie Landis, manager of the Chicago Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence.
"A GREAT PARTY"
"It was a great party," says Fischer, "and it was wonderful to see that kind of interest in the Family Violence Prevention Fund from such a diverse group concerned with domestic violence."
FVPF Constituency Manager Jeffrey Betcher described the event as "warm and lively," and remarked on the "outpouring of love, respect and affection for Sunny from a broad range of leaders in Chicago."
From her early days as a domestic violence activist, teacher, social worker and author, to her co-founding of the Chicago Foundation for Women, Sunny Fischer has received numerous honors for her work in philanthropy and women's issues.
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Fischer first came in contact with the FVPF in 1989, when she was the director of the Sophia Fund, one of the first women's funds in the country. She said at the reception that the Sophia Fund gave the FVPF $4,000, "which was, in its small way, the seed money for a major national domestic violence prevention campaign, now called There's No Excuse for Domestic Violence."
At the event, Fischer echoed the challenges described by Jamie Kalven in his introductory comments. "How does the FVPF help to organize the thinking on violence against women? Is this still a movement, and if it is, what direction will it go and what is our involvement in that? How can we be a leader in that kind of discussion? The FVPF has so often been on the cutting edge," Fischer added. "What kind of perspective do we need to stay there?"
Fischer told the crowd that she sees service providers as the front lines or medics in the battle against domestic abuse. "You need someone trying to make peace," she said. "The FVPF is serving that function behind the lines."
USA Today Names www.fvpf.org "Hot Site of the Day"
The Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) has unveiled an exciting, revamped web site, www.fvpf.org. Visitors to the easy-to-use, consumer-friendly site can access reliable statistics, learn how to help family members and friends who may be facing abuse, browse the celebrity "Hall of Fame" and "Hall of Shame," order a "There's No Excuse for Domestic Violence" bumper sticker, and much more. USA Today named the site "Hot Site of the Day" on October 1, 1999 -- the first day of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The site includes information about each of the FVPF's program areas. New to the FVPF web site are:
In addition, users can sign up for the FVPF's listserv, through which they receive regular updates on current events, public policy initiatives and research related to domestic violence.
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