ABSTRACT
Accordingccording to research reports from around the world, violence against women is horribly common and profoundly consequential. Together, physical and sexual abuse contribute to poor physical and reproductive health in women, suicidality, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, posttraumatic stress, poverty and hunger, and mortality both in women and their children. Intimate violence undermines women’s economic livelihood, women’s participation in public life, and women’s involvement in politics. Violence against women and girls is a major dimension of gender inequality worldwide (UN Secretary-General 2006; Walby 2005). In the United States, feminist organizing has produced dramatic changes in how abused women are treated by the law, hospitals, mental health professionals, and organized religion.
