End Violence Against Women International Conference

"We inspire and educate those who respond to gender-based violence, equipping them with the knowledge and tools they need to support victims and hold perpetrators accountable. We promote victim-centered, multi-disciplinary collaboration, which strengthens the response of the criminal justice system, other professionals, allies, and the general public - making communities safer."

This is the mission statement of End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI). 

Gender-based violence is unacceptable. 

Perpetrators need to be held accountable. 

Victims need compassion, support, and justice. 

The Title IX Student Org and our advisor at the conference

Last week, I spent a few days in Chicago at the EVAWI conference with some other students from my college who are involved with the Title IX Student Organization on our campus. Although I expected to learn a lot from this conference, I was not prepared for the emotions that the stories would bring me. I am not exposed to the realities of what happens in cases of sexual assault and domestic violence. Sure, we can be told about it and how to prevent these horrendous events, but nothing can prepare you for listening to the raw stories from survivors who have had to suffer through unbelievable pain that is only made worse when the justice system fails them.

One woman's story who I was particularly moved by was Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzalez). Sitting in the giant conference room with all of the other attendees, we were shown the documentary film called "Home Truth." I had not previously heard of Jessica's story before this plenary session, which is surprising given my interest in Supreme Court hearings. When the documentary started off, I could tell that a lot of time (9 years, to be exact) and work had been put into it. I had no idea what her story entailed, but as the home videos of her kids were reeling and she was talking about her abusive husband and his mental stability, my heart began to drop further and further into my stomach. I thought to myself, "dear God, please don't let this end how it looks like it's going to." Sadly, my intuition was right. Jessica lost her three daughters since their father abducted them in violation of a domestic violence restraining order because the police system in her small town completely failed her. Jessica, though, did not want her daughters to die in vain; from there, she took her case all the way to the United States Supreme Court AND an international human rights tribunal to strengthen legal rights and ensure that proper protections are being put in place and followed through with for victims of domestic violence.

Jessica Lenahan speaking to the audience about her advocacy work

To make this story even more heartbreaking, even the Supreme Court did not provide Jessica with a remedy. She now uses her voice and her pursuit of justice to show why we need to enhance police and community responses to domestic violence so that these tragedies aren't repeated.

That is only one story of many that I heard over my day-and-a-half at this phenomenal conference.

Although I have been involved with my Title IX student organization and my sorority whose philanthropy is domestic violence, a lot of what I have learned pertains to sexual assault and domestic issues at colleges, not in the "real world" as some would refer to. A lot of the sessions at the conference focused on the legal system, which was great for me and my future career because it opened my mind to even more issues that I had never looked into, such as the biases in police investigations or the cases where women (and men!) have been accused of false reporting. Keeping victims safe while holding offenders accountable should be the number one priority in cases of this nature, but often times, that isn't what happens. We all have certain biases, whether we recognize them or not, and these biases can massively affect how we take on situations.

One of my favorite sessions I sat in on was about expert witnesses in court cases and how to use expert testimony to educate jurors about trauma and survivors. I haven't studied trials in depth yet, but for some reason (probably because of all my hours spent watching Law & Order SVU), I have always thought of "experts" as being forensic chemists or people in the field. This isn't always the case. This session showed me that jurors have expectations of victims/survivors, such as expecting them to cry on the stand, or know the exact timeline of their story, but this certainly is not always true. This is why it is imperative to have expert witnesses who can attest to the victim's state of mind and their perspectives on the situation, such as nurses or victim advocates.

Start by Believing

I could go on and on about this for days, but I will wrap it up here as I encourage all of you to learn more about this movement to end violence against women in our day and age. We are on day two of sexual assault awareness week at HPU and I am more motivated than ever to be a leader on my campus and hopefully continue this leadership once I get out into my life (vote for Clos 2036;))

Glad I had this experience with my best friend 

Repping the teal for sexual assault awareness week with my boss