Women's Issues
Joe Biden On Women's Issues Protecting Women Against Violence The U.S. has Senator Biden to thank for writing the ground-breaking Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the 1990s. The law criminalized violence against women and it ensures there are avenues to hold batterers truly accountable. Biden’s plan urged each state to set up coordinated community responses to domestic violence and rape. As a result, there are now hundreds of state laws prohibiting family violence and resources to set up shelters so battered women abused by male partners have a safe place to go. The law also established a national hotline that has received over 1.5 million calls for help from abused women. The VAWA enabled women to escape the violence in the home and the means to make changes in their lives. Police and prosecutors have received special training to successfully prosecute and convict abusive husbands rather than giving them a proverbial slap on the wrist. The results of all this effort have been to reduce domestic violence by 50 percent and rape by 60 percent nationwide. Even in light of the progress made to date, there still remains a need for more protection and assistance for battered women. In 2007, the Senator introduced the National Domestic Violence Volunteer Attorney Network Act. This Act provides for the recruitment of volunteer lawyers to assist victims of domestic violence navigate the legal system and bring abusers to face the law. Equality for Women: The Constitution Senator Biden has long opposed the Reagan and two Bush Administration's legacy of appointing federal courts with judges committed to a view of the Constitution that denies women equal protection under the law. Increasing Opportunities In part due to Title IX, over 150,000 women participate in intercollegiate sports teams. Title IX guarantees that women have equal opportunities in college athletics. Senator Biden has been a strong supporter of fairness on the sports field.
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Sarah Palin On Women's Issues Efforts to Tackle Sex Violence Stalled by Palin's Office Public safety experts and advocates for women and children struggle to explain how Palin's leadership has helped address this crisis, and current and former officials from Palin's administration confirm that an ambitious plan to tackle the crisis apparently was largely ignored after arriving at the governor's desk. "She's really done a lot of work on oil and gas, but when it comes to violence against women and children. . . we haven't been on her radar as a priority," said Peggy Brown, executive director of the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. The Juneau-based group is an umbrella organization for shelters and anti-violence programs around the state. Several victims' advocates noted that Palin did agree to a two percent increase in funding for victim assistance this year. But a March study by a state task force found that level of funding only covered the cost of helping women and children hurt by the epidemic of sexual violence. It was not enough to try to prevent assaults from happening – or to ensure "accountability of offenders," as the panel phrased it. Some members of Palin's administration were focused on the issue of sexual violence. Officials in the Department of Public Safety were devising an ambitious, multi-million-dollar initiative to seriously tackle sex crimes in the state, but Palin's office put the plan on hold in July. Days later, Palin fired its chief proponent, Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, after he declined to dismiss a state trooper Palin accused of threatening her own family members. Palin has said she fired Monegan because she wanted to move his department in a "new direction," and he was not being "a team player on budgeting issues." The current status of the plan, which would have "fast-tracked" sex crime cases via a dedicated group that included specially-trained investigators, judges and prosecutors, is unknown. Numerous inquiries to Palin's campaign spokeswoman went unreturned. We find it odd that Palin had praised Monegan -- and specifically for his work on domestic violence – in the months before she fired him “for incompetence”. "An indication of our commitment is the participation here of my, our, department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's participation here and all of his hard work, and I want to publicly thank him," Palin said in remarks at an April 28 conference on domestic violence. "I want to publicly thank Walt for having his heart in the right place and his efforts too."
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