What You Can Do
To End Violence Against Women
In Your Community

• Call the police when you see or hear someone being assaulted.
  
• Call your local domestic violence program and ask what you can do to help.
  
• Educate yourself:
  Ask female family members and friends if they have ever been assaulted by an intimate partner.
  Go to your local Family or District Court and observe domestic violence cases for a day. Call the court to find out when these cases are being heard.
  
• Dedicate two hours each month to writing letters to the editor, political officials, police chiefs, prosecutors, judges, public defenders about violence issues.
  
• Encourage your local school to teach gender and race equity.
  
• Supervise what your children watch on TV and at the movies. Advocate for non-violent shows.
  
• Purge your speech of violent images ("I'm going to kill you!").
  
• Don't blame the victim: ask why he batters and not why she stays.
  
• During political campaigns, ask candidates what specific actions they will take to end violence against women.
  
• Ask a woman with bruises or a black eye if she is battered and offer your support.
  
• Offer support to a parent who is physically punishing their child in public places.
  
• Call the Governor and legislators and ask what they are doing to end violence against women.
  
• Take violence seriously: Don't minimize it, don't joke about it and confront others who do.
  
• Join Survivors of Crime - P.O. Box 8438, Essex, VT 05451 - 879-4838