Resources

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), 2023 - Fact Sheet

As a result of grassroots advocacy and organizing, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) became law in 1994 and was most recently reauthorized in March 2022. With the passage of VAWA, the United States government acknowledged its responsibility to change the legal, social, and cultural norms surrounding violence against women and highlighted the need for dedicated supportive services and improved justice responses to such cases. Efforts to enact and reauthorize VAWA have included the groundswell of Native women who organized to engage tribal, state, and federal systems to hold governments accountable to address the lasting effects of colonization, namely the continued crisis of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, trafficking, homicides, and abductions and unsolved cases of American Indian and Alaska Native women.