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Issues
Women's Issues

Women's Issues

As the former Republican Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, Ginny has taken a keen interest in federal policies that affect women.

Congress has worked with the Department of Defense to institute policies that will curb sexual violence perpetrated against female soldiers by their male counterparts.  The Congressional Women’s Caucus challenged the Department of Defense to institute reforms addressing this problem.

Additionally, the Woman’s Caucus has held several public hearings on sexual assault in the military to hear from victims, experts, and DoD representatives on this subject.  Refusing to address this problem is an affront to the decency owed to each human being and threatens military readiness.  DoD has since published a report on violence against women in the military and Congress has established a date when the new policies legally must be implemented.

Additionally, Ginny was an original cosponsor and strong supporter of the 2005 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  VAWA grants are designed to aid law enforcement officers and prosecutors, encourage arrest policies, stem domestic violence and child abuse, establish and operate training programs for victim advocates and counselors, and train probation and parole officers who work with released sex offenders.

This reauthorization provides Congress with the opportunity to strengthen the provisions that have proved successful in the past and to provide for new protections for women who suffer from violence. Ginny successfully passed an amendment to the reauthorization that will study the link between domestic violence and substance abuse.