Webinar: Ending Violence Against Women

Event Description

One in three women worldwide will be beaten or raped in her lifetime. In February 2013 the Senate was days from voting on the main U.S. law meant to respond. Citizens for Global Solutions, then branded GlobalSolutions.org, hosted this webinar on Saturday 9 February 2013. It covered the global epidemic of violence against women and what each of us can do to end it. It was held ahead of the One Billion Rising day of action.

Eleanor Smeal traced the campaign from state-level work to the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. She explained why the Senate had not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Ratification needs 67 votes. Sandra Fluke covered the pending reauthorization of the Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. She also covered the International Violence Against Women Act, and how gender-related violence runs along a global spectrum. Questions turned to why the treaty has stalled and to protections for Native American and LGBT women. Others asked about election pressure on senators. Listeners were asked to call their senators, join Valentine’s Day rallies and sign the treaty petition.

Speakers

• Eleanor Smeal, founder and president, Feminist Majority
• Sandra Fluke, attorney and social justice activist
• Don Kraus, President and CEO, GlobalSolutions.org (host)

Titles are as of the event date.

Policy Focus

Violence against women, the Violence Against Women Act and the International Violence Against Women Act. The Senate was about to vote on reauthorizing the Act. A substitute version had just been defeated 65 to 34. The webinar also urged Senate ratification of the women’s rights convention. The United States remained one of very few countries that had not joined it.

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