After working as the White House’s chief advisor on gender-based violence, Professor Catherine Powell, Eunice Hunton Carter Distinguished Research Scholar at Fordham Law, looks back on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to address gender-based violence.
Powell is an adjunct senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
On September 12, 2024, I attended the White House’s thirtieth anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the landmark law that Joe Biden championed as a senator, establishing legal services and protections to address and respond to gender-based violence (GBV), such as experiencing sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. In celebrating the historic legislation on the South Lawn, President Biden, survivors, and advocates reflected on the tremendous impacts of VAWA, as well as the global ripple effects set in motion by this civil rights law.