The International Violence Against Women Act presents a critical opportunity for the United States to protect, defend, and empower the world’s women.

For decades, the Baha'is of the United States have worked to advance the status of women by advocating policies and legislation that promote gender equality, including the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Learn more about CEDAW.

The Baha’i Faith has some lofty goals. To name just a few: developing a consciousness of world citizenship, the establishment of full equality between men and women, the elimination of all forms of prejudice and the development of an economy informed by spiritual principles. Many people might think of these ideas as utopian, and rightly so.

We know that women and girls around the world face violence and discrimination daily. We also know that CEDAW, the Women’s Treaty, helps women and girls to go to school, to own and inherit property, to take part in public life, and to fight violence. We need Senate action on the CEDAW Treaty (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) to give the U.S. greater clout to help women worldwide win these basic rights.

Baha’i representatives will join the Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition on Tuesday, May 11, in Washington, D.C., to advocate for the swift passage of International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA)—America’s first comprehensive legislation to end violence against women and girls around the world.

NEW YORK — When Jan Floyd-Douglass decided to buy a new car, she bypassed suitable models from eight different manufacturers – and then wrote to tell them why.

Ruth G. Richardson is a member of the Baha’i Faith and lives just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Today, Ruth is in her 80’s and enjoying her second career as a painter.

On Thursday, February 4, 2010, Members of Congress introduced the groundbreaking International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA)! The bill is H.R. 4594 in the House and S. 2982 in the Senate.

She didn’t make it to episode three, but Pamela Ptak is confident that her favorite designer had His hand in it, and that He knows what He’s doing.

On October 1, 2009, Baha'is attended a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled, “Violence Against Women: Global Costs and Consequences.”