Launch of the White House Gender Policy Council’s National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies to Action

May 25, 2023 |
Valor

 

Valor U.S. logo & tagline. The National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies for Action.

Today the White House Gender Policy Council released the first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies to Action (the National Plan), and VALOR staff had the opportunity to attend the launch event at the White House. The National Plan is warmly welcomed by VALOR and recognized as a milestone in the nation’s response to preventing and ending sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of gender-based violence (collectively referred to as GBV). 

In 2021, VALOR and PreventConnect, a project of VALOR, hosted two National Action Plan listening sessions and provided recommendations to the White House Gender Policy Council for the U.S. National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence. Listening session participants emphasized that prevention strategies need to be the focus of the National Plan, including addressing the inequities in society that function as root causes of GBV. 

The National Plan takes a comprehensive approach to addressing GBV, and has implemented seven strategic pillars to promote a community response to end GBV. These strategic pillars are:

  1. Prevention
  2. Support, Healing, Safety, and Well-Being
  3. Economic Security and Housing Stability
  4. Online Safety
  5. Legal and Justice Systems
  6. Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Response
  7. Research and Data

Gender-based violence is a public health crisis, but it is one we can work to prevent and end together. Violence is not inevitable – it’s preventable. VALOR is thrilled to see Prevention listed as the first strategic pillar. We cannot end GBV without investing in prevention funding and resources, and applaud the Biden Administration for recognizing the importance of investing in the underlying causes that allow GBV to occur in the first place. This will require our nation to change the social conditions and norms that have long existed, and challenge reform within institutions and systems. Comprehensive prevention works!