The Feminist Majority supports IVAWA, which would make ending violence against women a U.S. foreign policy priority. The bill requires the establishment of a five-year strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls around the world and authorizes funding to implement programs related to this goal. Provisions of the bill require that training, prevention, and response to violence against women and girls be included in U.S. efforts in the areas of humanitarian relief, conflict, post-conflict and disaster relief programs.
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9), the bill’s chief sponsor, reintroduced IVAWA in the House repeatedly from 2012 to 2019. IVAWA gained a companion bill in the Senate in 2019, where it was sponsored by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). Congresswoman Schakowsky and Senator Shaheen last introduced the bill to their respective chambers in 2022, where it had 114 cosponsors in the House and one, a Republican, in the Senate. The International Violence Against Women Act has not been introduced to Congress in three years, and if it were, it would be unlikely to pass. Regardless, considering the unique needs and circumstances of women in crisis worldwide remains an important cause.