You Can Help Raise Awareness re: Domestic Violence

Today our guest, Rita Bailey, Co-Chair of the Domestic Violence and Abuse Partnership Task Force in Darien, CT,  will describe how a grass roots community group can help raise domestic violence awareness.
Consider the statistics:

• Every 9 seconds a woman is battered in the United States.
• Conservatively, each year 1 million women suffer nonfatal violence by an intimate.
• Nearly 1 in 3 women experience domestic violence in their lifetime.
• Ninety to ninety-five percent of domestic violence victims are women.
• As many as 324,000 women each year experience intimate partner violence during their pregnancy.
• The U.S. Department of Justice reported that 37 percent of all women who sought care in hospital emergency rooms for violence-related injuries were injured by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.
• Forty percent of teenage girls age 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.
• Studies of the Surgeon General's office reveal that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44, more common than automobile accidents, muggings, and cancer deaths combined. Other research has found that half of all women will experience some form of violence from their partners during marriage, and that more than one-third are battered repeatedly every year.

Domestic Violence occurs in all communities. Victims have no profile.? They are found in all ethnic and demographic groups, can have no education or hold advanced degrees in professions such as medicine, law, or be voted the most upstanding citizen and perhaps even volunteer their time to combating ?domestic violence. ?You may be surprised to learn that the above statistics ?are undoubtedly on the low side?.