ABSTRACT
This article is a conversation between two academic experts, Callie Rennison and Nikki Jones, who endeavor to sum up what has been accomplished in eliminating violence against women in the United States during the 25 years of the journal's existence. Domestic violence, rape, and sexual harassment are discussed. Although prevalence rates are down in domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment remain persistent problems. Looking at violence against women from an analysis of President Trump voters in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Rennison and Jones observe the extent to which the current ideas and attitudes of women-both young and old-will need to change before violence can be eliminated. Rather than viewing events in the United States as totally negative, they see them as presenting new opportunities for greater understanding of violence against women and for new methods of prevention and perpetrator accountability.
Subject(s)
Fellowships and Scholarships/methods , Gender-Based Violence/trends , Patient Advocacy/psychology , Research/trends , Gender-Based Violence/prevention & control , Gender-Based Violence/psychology , Humans , Patient Advocacy/trendsSubject(s)
Adolescent Behavior , Power, Psychological , Pregnancy in Adolescence/statistics & numerical data , School Nursing/organization & administration , Spouse Abuse/statistics & numerical data , Adolescent , Contraception Behavior , Female , Humans , Illinois , Infant, Newborn , Male , Nurse's Role , Poverty , Pregnancy , Pregnancy in Adolescence/psychology , School Health Services/organization & administration , Spouse Abuse/psychology , United StatesABSTRACT
This paper reviews the growing body of research literature on the relationship of domestic violence to welfare. Not only do women on welfare suffer from domestic violence in far greater numbers than women in the general population, but their abusers, threatened by the women's efforts at education, training, or work, also use violence and threats of violence to sabotage these efforts at economic self-sufficiency. For this reason, welfare reform exacerbates domestic violence in the lives of many low-income women. As a result of the federal Family Violence Option, most state welfare plans allow battered women on welfare more time and specialized services before mandating work in order to keep them and their children safe. Recent research and monitoring have shown, however, that the majority of battered women on welfare do not tell their welfare workers about the violence. Ending the isolation of these battered women and helping them with domestic violence services pose difficult challenges. Women's health providers may be in a better position to accomplish this task than welfare department personnel.
