Revised Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Passed

Finally this important act was passed and signed yesterday by President Obama. It went through rough waters, late last year, when Congress would not agree with certain issues.

Photo: National Center on
Domestic and Sexual Violence

This Act was supposed to have been passed last year by Congress. The new, expanded VAWA law, will cover women involved in domestic violence, as it has in the past. But it will also cover domestic violence to gay, lesbian and transgender victims, as well. Native Americans and undocumented immigrants will also be added.

The initial VAWA was the work of Joe Biden, back in 1994 and it also helps fund rape crisis centers around the country. The much needed expansion of the Act, will also cover related crimes, such as dating violence and stalking crimes.

The signing ceremony of the new act yesterday, included President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Congress members, organizations for women, Native American leaders, law enforcement groups and of course, some survivors of domestic violence.

Update of Violence Against Women Act

Sad news today about the Violence Against Women Act. It has not been been extended to help more Native American women, among other women, that desperately need help or assistance. 

This just emphasizes the lacking interest to help women by the House of Representatives branch of our government. The Senate passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, back in April of last year. We were hoping that the House of Representatives would have it up for a vote, before the end of last year… but it didn't. Instead, they let it die, without bothering to vote for it.

To read more about the Violence Against Women Act, read our previous blog post.

Seems like women are still considered 2nd class citizens in this country.

Violence Against Women Act Manipulation

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), was started back when President Clinton was in office, in September of 1994. It was drafted by Senator Biden's office and was designed to help women in domestic violence and rape situations. The Department of justice, included this new act and opened the Office on Violence Against Women.

It seems that VAWA is presently being manipulated by Congress. They are trying to pass a reconfigured Act which is different from the original Senate version. The new VAWA version that Congress wants to pass will benefit rapists and domestic violent husbands, plus minimize other services that women victims need. As it stands, the original Act is currently expired and Congress seems determined to drastically change it and drag it out until 2013, instead of passing it immediately.

The following is what VAWA helps with:

• Community violence prevention programs
• Protection for victims who are evicted from their homes because of events related to domestic violence or stalking
• Funding for victim assistance services, like rape crisis centers & hotlines
• Programs to meet the needs of immigrant women and women of different races or ethnicities
• Programs and services for victims with disabilities
• Legal aid for survivors of violence

We encourage you to contact your member of Congress, as we did, by calling or emailing them. Let them know that you want the original Senate version, of VAWA, drafted by Biden, to continue and to be immediately signed by President Obama!

For more information and how you can help go to NOW
For the history of VAWA go to Wikipedia

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - SIGNED!

President Obama just signed this morning the bill that protects everyone from pay discrimination. A BIG step for WOMEN and minorities! History has been made today.

The following information is from the White House Blog:

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will restore the law to where it was before the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Justice Ginsberg's dissent summarizes the facts of Ledbetter's complaint:

Lilly Ledbetter was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire and Rubber’s plant in Gadsden, Alabama, from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, a position largely occupied by men. Initially, Ledbetter’s salary was in line with the salaries of men performing substantially similar work. Over time, however, her pay slipped in comparison to the pay of male area managers with equal or less seniority. By the end of 1997, Ledbetter was the only woman working as an area manager and the pay discrepancy between Ledbetter and her 15 male counterparts was stark: Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month; the lowest paid male area manager received $4,286 per month, the highest paid, $5,236.

The Court ruled that employees subject to pay discrimination like Lilly Ledbetter must file a claim within 180 days of the employer's original decision to pay them less -- even if the employee continued to receive reduced paychecks and even if the employee did not discover the discriminatory reduction in pay until much later (check out Justice Alito's arguments in the Court's opinion). Restoring these rules means that complaints can be filed 180 days after any discriminatory paycheck.