Violence Against Women Prevention Timeline

Transforming Communities: Technical Assistance, Training and Resource Center(TC-TAT) developed a California Violence Against Women Prevention Timeline to the best of their ability based on conversations with advocates around California and other research.

Initial information for the timeline drew from the following resources: PreventConnect Web Conference: Toward a Community Solution: Advancing Primary Prevention of Violence Against Women, and Herstory of Domestic Violence: A Timeline of the Battered Women’s Movement from Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse. Funding for the initial development of the timeline was provided by the California Office of Emergency Services (OES), Domestic Violence Section.

This Timeline is a “work in progress.” We hope that this Timeline will serve as a starting point for us to collectively document our prevention history. While we were unable to include every important event due to space limitations, TC-TAT, in collaboration with the PreventConnect Wiki Project, is making this Timeline available online with opportunities for advocates to add and edit the timeline. To suggest edits or additions to the PreventConnect Wiki Project, please send an email with “wiki edit” in the subject line to info@preventconnect.org.

Year
Event
1970s
Grassroots battered women’s justice movement uses feminist, social change approach to raise awareness of violence against women through rallies and speak-outs.
1976
Southern California Coalition on Battered Women (SCCBW) forms.
1978
California Alliance Against Domestic Violence (CAADV) forms.
1978
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearings legitimize the needs of battered women as a national concern; feminists organize to create the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV).
1979
United Nations adopts the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Early 80s
Barrie Levy spends time in California classrooms defining rape, sexual assault, and battering as crimes against women and learns that many girls are already encountering those crimes with their teenage boyfriends; this leads to her groundbreaking curriculum on teen dating violence.
Early 80s
Veterans of the rape crisis movement launch the educational program “Safe, Strong and Free” to empower children to protect themselves, seek help, and help one another.
1982
First National Women of Color Conference; race, class and homophobia are central themes.
1984-92
In California Statewide program focusing on sexual abuse prevention funded through Child Abuse and Prevention Training Act (CAPTA).
1985
California Alliance Against Domestic Violence (CAADV) public policy committee helps write legislation to fund prevention of DV through the Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP). Four California projects funded to develop and disseminate prevention programs and strategies.
1985
Surgeon General C. Everett Koop conducts the first national workshop on violence and public health, signifying federal recognition of VAW.
Late 80s
Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW) (now Peace Over Violence, Marin Abused Women’s Services(MAWS) (now Center for Domestic Peace), and Battered Women’s Alternatives (BWA) (now STAND! for Families Free of Violence] create some of the first-in-the-country dating violence prevention programs and materials.
1990
First comprehensive federal legislation responding to violence against women (VAW) introduced.
1992
MAWS (now Center for Domestic Peace) creates Transforming Communities: Creating Safety and Justice for Women and Girls (TC) prevention arm.
1993
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) create Family Violence and Intimate Violence Prevention Team.
1994
VAWA is passed; funding dramatically increased. Collaborations between community organizations and government formed to address DV.
1994
California begins distributing information on domestic violence to any couple applying for a marriage license.
1994
OJ Simpson trial brings huge media attention and visibility to the issue of domestic violence; advocates seize opportunity to frame the issue differently, prompting authorization of the Battered Women’s Protection Act in California.
1994
California Department of Health Services (CDHS) establishes Women’s Health Initiative within the Epidemiology and Prevention for Injury Control (EPIC) Branch, with a focus on VAW prevention.
1994
CDC funds Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program.
1995
National Alliance to End Sexual Violence forms.
1995
Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China; many Californians attend, forging links with international women’s movement. Trafficking noted as critical issue.
1996
California Legislature targets $1.25 million for community grants for DV prevention programs.
1996
California Department of Health Services (CDHS) funds 35 community organizations to create comprehensive DV prevention programs and establishes SafeNetwork, a statewide technical assistance (TA) and training project.
1996
In California AB508 fails; would have provided for DV education in schools.
1996
World Health Organization declares Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence global public health problems.
1997
California Department of Health Services initiates statewide TA and Training (STAT) projects.
1997
Transforming Communities expands into a statewide technical assistance, training and resource center for domestic violence prevention (TC-TAT).
1997
October proclaimed National DV Awareness Month.
1997
Family Violence Prevention Fund, now (Futures Without Violence) starts groundbreaking public education campaign, “There’s No Excuse for Domestic Violence.”
1998
TC-TAT conducts baseline statewide survey to assess DV organizations’ knowledge, attitudes, and capacity regarding prevention theory and practice and launches first of 14 Immersion Institutes to help advocates understand and apply prevention concepts and strategies. Over the years, TC-TAT develops dozens of prevention products and helps to facilitate a statewide prevention learning community.
1998
Proposition 10, using funds from tobacco tax, establishes California Children and Families First Initiative with significant domestic violence component.
1998
Women’s Crisis Support / Defensa de Mujeres (Watsonville, CA) receives first large CDC grant to initiate the Healthy Families Prevention Program in Watsonville.
1999
“Shifting the Paradigm” video developed by Humboldt State University emphasizes prevention and root causes of domestic violence.
1999
WEAVE (Sacramento, CA) starts tri-county prevention media campaign.
2000
VAWA II passed; still no specific funds for prevention.
2000
First INCITE! Color of Violence Conference held.
2001
CDC shifts focus to primary prevention as it relates to violence against women.
2001
California Department of Health Services expands focus to unserved and underserved communities; more funding for work with teens and communities of color available.
2004
CDC fund 14 state coalitions to receive DELTA funding for primary prevention of domestic violence . In California six sites receive funding to do local prevention work.
2004
Epidemiology and Prevention for Injury Control (EPIC) publishes California Statewide Policy Recommendations for the Prevention of Violence Against Women covering 14 priority areas.
2004-07
Family Violence Prevention Fund (now Futures Without Violence) and others work to add prevention to the new Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization.
2005
In California CAADV and SCCBW merge into one statewide coalition, known as the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (CPEDV).
2005
CALCASA and CDHS initiate MyStrength statewide social marketing campaign to prevent first-time perpetration of sexual violence.
2005
PreventConnect begins to provide on-line activities to promote primary prevention with funding from the CDC.
2006
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (CPEDV) launches advisory committee to create a statewide prevention plan.