President Joe Biden: Why My Fight Against Domestic Violence is So Personal

In an exclusive opinion editorial, Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, writes for Glamour.

Tonight, on the South Lawn of the White House, more than 1,000 survivors, advocates, and allies will gather to mark the 30th anniversary of the first comprehensive law addressing violence against women in our nation’s history: the Violence Against Women Act.

As we celebrate our progress on this landmark legislation, we’ll also hear powerful stories from heroic survivors: a longstanding champion who has fought alongside us for 30 years; an advocate for Indigenous women, LGBTQ+ survivors, and underserved communities; and a young, heroic man who was shot while intervening to stop a sexual assault while in college.

When I first introduced the Violence Against Women Act as a senator in 1990, too few thought the government had a role to play in ending violence against women. Domestic violence was considered a “family matter.” Back then, society largely turned a blind eye, dismissed cries for help, or blamed the victims.

It was wrong.

I have long believed that ending violence against women requires a wholesale cultural change—one that brought this hidden epidemic out from the shadows. So, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I began to do just that.

My committee conducted, researched, and authored groundbreaking, data-driven reports on violence against women, to shine a light on the truth and shake the nation out of its indifference. We brought together a coalition that included shelters, religious organizations, survivors, prosecutors, and advocates. And I invited health professionals, advocates, and courageous survivors to testify to the entire nation. Their harrowing stories have stuck with me more than 30 years later.

One woman recounted being beaten by her husband while pregnant, while another’s husband stabbed her 13 times, leaving her permanently paralyzed. Another survivor’s landlord hired two men to slash her face with a razor after she rebuffed his advances. And a yet another was abducted from a parking lot and raped.

Thousands of demonstrators gather in Washington, protesting policies of the new GOP-led Congress amid fears Congress would cut domestic violence funding, April 1995.

JOYCE NALTCHAYAN/Getty Images

With each shocking testimony, hearts and minds began to change. Thanks to these courageous women, and advocates fighting alongside them, the Violence Against Women Act was signed into law on September 13, 1994. The law had several goals: ensuring safety in homes and communities, support and services for survivors, and justice and accountability.

With VAWA in place, we started to increase justice for survivors and accountability for perpetrators. We created the first-ever national hotline and supported shelters, rape crisis centers, housing, and legal assistance for women all across the country. We trained police officers, prosecutors, advocates, judges, and court personnel to make our justice system more fair and responsive to the needs of survivors. And, over time, we expanded access to sexual assault services on college campuses, invested in ending the backlog of rape kits, and increased protections for underserved communities.

Every time we’ve reauthorized this law, I’ve worked across the aisle to strengthen it—as a senator, as vice president, and as president. Most recently, we secured the highest-ever funding of more than $700 million to implement the law’s programs. And today, ahead of the law’s 30th anniversary, I’ll announce new actions my administration is taking—from funding more services for survivors, to expanding housing protections, to keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, to tackling the next frontier of gender-based violence and abuse: deepfake images and videos generated by artificial intelligence. The work never stops. But over the last 30 years, we’ve made tremendous progress.

According to the Department of Justice, between 1993 and 2022, the reported domestic violence rate dropped by 67%. The rate of reported rapes and sexual assaults declined by almost 56%. Earlier this year, our National Domestic Violence Hotline fielded its 7 millionth call since 1996. And millions of survivors have been provided with victim advocacy services, protection orders, housing, and legal aid. There’s more to do, but we will not rest until it gets done.

And that includes standing with women and girls worldwide who are facing down violence to demand basic human rights, and against rape and sexual violence used as weapons of war and terror.

Today, as we mark three decades since we passed into law the Violence Against Women Act, we celebrate our progress while recommitting to the work ahead.

My dad was a gentle, kind man who always taught me to stand up to the abuse of power—whether psychological, economic, or physical. That lesson was the driving force behind my decision to create the Violence Against Women Act 30 years ago. And as we look to the future, we cannot stop fighting until every woman and girl on this planet is not only free from violence, fear, and abuse—but empowered to reach her full potential.

Toward that aim, Congress must continue to build on the progress we have made under the Violence Against Women Act here in the United States, and pass the International Violence Against Women Act to strengthen justice and accountability for gender-based violence around the world. And we must each do our part at home, at work, in the military, in schools and on campuses, in communities, and online to prevent this from happening in the first place—and summon the courage to intervene when it does.

I believe America is a great nation, because we are a good people. Standing up to abuse of power is hard, but I know we can do this—we must do this—for all the women and girls suffering in silence; for all those we have lost; and for all those we can still save.

Joe Biden is the 46th president of the United States.