NOW is unique in its approach to the issue of violence against women, emphasizing that there are many interrelated aspects to the issue — domestic violence; sexual assault; sexual harassment; violence at abortion clinics; hate crimes across lines of gender, sexuality and race; the gender bias in our judicial system that further victimizes survivors of violence; and the violence of poverty emphasized by the radical right’s attacks on poor women and children — all of which result from society’s attitudes toward women and efforts to “keep women in their place.”

The role of the Ending Violence Against Women Committee is to gather and catalog any information relevant to this topic. This information will be used by the legislative team to help in meetings with our legislators, in preparing testimony for legislative hearings, and in the writing of proposed legislation. As a member of this committee, you can help by doing that research to gather the information, by helping to organize the information into a form that's clear and easy to convey, or by helping with communication to help keep your own committee in the loop and also keeping the chapter as a whole in the loop as well. Other tasks may be needed as well, and your committee chair may call for additional help as it is needed.