VAW - Violence against Women

Violence against women is a crime that knows no boundaries it crosses all countries, social groups and knows no age limits.

The numbers show that six out of ten women world wide are exposed to some form of violence within their lifetime. Whether the violence is physical, verbal, emotional, or financial every day women are being subjected to acts of violence. Most of the crimes are committed by the women's spouse, boyfriend, or partner, some one the women were involved with.

The first step in stopping the violence is the victim themselves, on average the victim will return to their abuser approximately four times, before they leave for good, but for each time the victim returns the chances of her making it out of the relationship alive statistically becomes less. Many of these women who return to their abuser do so out of fear of the unknown (what do I do, how do I do it, and where do I go). Another reason they might return to their abuser is because the abuser always threatens to harm them further or end their lives if they do not return. Granted when the victim returns to their abuser there might be a time where there is no abuse this is commonly referred to the honeymoon period, but this phase never last long and soon the violence starts again and quite often is worse. These same women who leave and return to their abuser's quite often file charges, just to drop them, before anything is done.

For the women who decide that they want out there are now many resources available to them, then there were just a decade ago. The public out cry to stop the violence against women many local, state, country, and internationally have programs in place to assist women who want to leave their abuser. The help that is offered is legal, counseling, employment placement services, and assistance with gaining the skills to get a job. These same resources can also assist in reaching other forms of assistance for things such as housing, child care, and assistance for food and medical. The places that a woman can look to find these sources is their local telephone book, public library, and the internet. The main thing to remember is the first step in ending the violence towards women are the women themselves. There is no shame in being a victim, it is coming out of it that will make that woman strong again.