White House Report on Women and Girls of Color: Addressing Challenges and Expanding Opportunity

“When addressing the challenges women and girls of color face – challenges that often lie at the intersection of race and gender – we often fail to fully acknowledge, and account for this complexity.” – White House Council on Women and Girls

The White House Council on Women and Girls recently released the report, Women and Girls of Color: Addressing Challenges and Expanding Opportunity. The Report provides a detailed narrative of progress and challenges that women and girls of color face in addressing education, economic security, health, violence against women, and criminal and juvenile justice.

Some highlights from section on Violence Against Women:

• An estimated 51.7 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native women, 51.3 percent of multi-racial women, 41.2 percent of non-Hispanic Black women, 30.5 percent of non-Hispanic White women, 29.7 percent of Hispanic women and 15.3 percent of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women experience physical violence by an intimate partner violence during their lifetime.

• Study by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Statistics of 42 federally funded human trafficking task forces found that 94 percent of victims of sex trafficking are female, and roughly three quarters are people of color.

• Preventing and addressing violence against women in Indian Country through enforcement efforts such as the landmark provision recognizing tribes’ inherent right to prosecute people who commit domestic violence in Indian Country, regardless of their status as Indian or non-Indian.

• Preventing, detecting and responding to sexual abuse and assault in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) holding facilities through published regulations and implementing measures that build upon safeguards already in place at DHS.

This Report amplifies conversations that communities of color have on a daily basis across the country. To address existing barriers and disparities, the Council is convening a Working Group of White House and across federal agencies, policy staff with experts, leaders, advocates from outside the government on Challenges and Opportunities for Women and Girls of Color.

To read the full Report:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/cwg_women_and_girls_of_color_report_112014.pdf