Anita Hill on gender-based violence and the election

To capture the current political perspectives of survivors of gender-based violence, our research partner, A—B Partners Research Studio, surveyed 969 adults across the country September 25-26. Survey participants were recruited from an online survey pool and participated in exchanges. for payment. Individuals who self-identified as women or a gender minority who opted into the survey were considered eligible if they reported being affected by gender-based violence. A—B partners also oversampled racial, gender, and LGBTQ individuals.

Respondents ranked changing the culture to one that “does not condone or condone abuse, violence or harassment by those in power” and dismantling “rape culture and protecting future generations” as the main reasons for engaging in political action. We must listen to them and support them.

Survivors know that disregard for their well-being often begins with words. At Donald Trump’s rally in New York last weekend, the cheers Tony Hinchcliffe received after he said this “Travis Kelce could be the next OJ Simpson“ were another reminder of how sloppily gendered violence is considered — and yes, it sounded like a desire for violence against Taylor Swift (who supported Harris).

The responses to our survey indicate that survivors will take the issue of gender-based violence with them to the polls. Eighty-four percent reported voting as their first priority. The racially and gender diverse group of respondents confirmed the urgency of voting in this presidential election. This consensus parallels a widely shared sense of individual political efficacy, a belief that survivors of gender-based violence can have a positive influence on political outcomes. They will have a chance to consider which candidate will commit to ending gender-based violence.

The issue of gender-based violence has attracted the attention of the White House. The Biden-Harris administration created the first Gender Policy Council in 2021, a successor to former President Barack Obama’s White House Council on Women and Girls (2009-2017), which Donald Trump disbanded during his administration.

In 2023, the White House released the first US national plan to end gender-based violence. This initiative spans the US government. The Department of Labor is now assisting low-income women who have been affected by gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace. The Biden-Harris administration has pursued comparable initiatives through all federal departments, including the Department of Defense, Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Department of Education, among others. To support the work being done at the state level, the administration has allocated a billion dollars in additional funding for rape crisis centers, community support organizations and other services for survivors of gender-based violence to implement and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act at the local level.

As a member of the Senate, Harris introduced legislation to end forced sexual assault arbitration; she celebrated the passage of the law in 2022 as a voice that returned to survivors. As Vice President, she worked on the successful reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which expanded protections for LGBTQ, Native American, and Alaska Native survivors. Harris worked with the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, urging governments, international organizations and citizens to address conflict-related sexual violence. She also worked to implement the Safer Communities Act, prohibiting people convicted of domestic violence against an intimate partner from purchasing or possessing firearms.

Instead, Trump was found responsible for sexual abuse by a court of law. The Republican candidate’s only reference to ending gender-based violence is an absurd claim this week that he will “protect” women “whether women like it or not.”

Project 2025, a plan for a second Trump term, recommends disbanding the Gender Policy Council and “erasing the terms … gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender sensitive” from all policy documents and initiatives. public policies. That probably includes deleting initiatives against gender-based violence.

The recently convened group Survivors for Harris, of which one of us is a member, issued a full-page ad in The New York Times drawing attention to these dangers — and asking America to understand that a second Trump term would deliver “the dangerous daily message … that sexual violence or abuse of any kind is normal, inevitable, and something the American people should accept” .

How voters respond to this stark choice will have a tremendous impact on the lives of survivors. For those ready to commit to ending gender-based violence, Harris is the clear choice.

Anita Hill is University Professor and David R. Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at Brandeis University. Daniel Thomas Kryder is the Luis Stulberg Chair in Law and Politics and Associate Professor of Politics at Brandeis.