On September 13, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law. The law was meant to pour resources into addressing crimes that too often had been minimized.
As a former Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women, an office created by VAWA, I witnessed the positive impact of the stronger criminal justice response and lifesaving services for survivors.
Unfortunately, what was once a focused effort and noble cause has been mismanaged and warped by the worst political agendas in Washington that have pulled VAWA away from its original mission of protecting women.
VAWA will be up for reauthorization in the coming months, and lawmakers must start the process with a renewed focus on protecting women’s safety and privacy. Women arriving at domestic violence shelters are often escaping extraordinary trauma. They have survived physical violence and mental abuse. Many arrive with children, frightened and unsure about what comes next. For these women, privacy is not political. It is fundamental to safety, dignity and recovery.
Unfortunately, in 2013, Congress added gender identity to the statutory nondiscrimination provisions of VAWA. That meant that shelters receiving funding through VAWA programs faced new restrictions on their ability to maintain single-sex services and spaces based on biological sex, or they risk legal consequences and potentially a loss of funding. This must change.
In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to recognize sex as male or female, rather than gender identity, and specifically directed federal agencies to protect sex-based intimate spaces. However, Congress should make it crystal clear that VAWA-funded organizations may provide female-only shelters, sleeping accommodations, bathrooms, changing areas and other intimate spaces when necessary to protect the privacy and safety needs of women.
A new and improved VAWA must also do more to confront forms of violence and coercion against women and girls that are not as widely known about, but are equally harmful, if not life-threatening. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is one such example of a horrific practice that occurs in the shadows of American communities.
FGM is defined as the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The practice is widespread in countries like Somalia, where an estimated 99 percent of women and girls undergo the practice, according to UNICEF. It’s similarly widespread in Egypt, Djibouti and Sierra Leone. With increasing immigration to the U.S. from regions where FGM remains prevalent, we must make clear that this deeply misogynistic practice has no place in the United States of America.
President Trump signed the bipartisan Stop FGM Act into law in 2021 that redefined and tightened the federal ban on this heinous practice. Subsequently, Congress took important steps in the 2022 reauthorization by recognizing female genital mutilation within VAWA programs. Congress should build on that work in 2027 with a stronger response to female genital mutilation. VAWA should strengthen the prevention and education efforts, improve identification of girls at risk, and expand specialized survivor services and training for professionals who may encounter victims.
VAWA defines forced marriage as a marriage in which one or both parties “do not or cannot consent” and force, fraud or coercion is present. Unfortunately, according to the U.S. State Department, young American women have been forced to marry abroad and later are used as a pathway back into the United States. This is a form of trafficking and violence against young women and girls. VAWA must do more to stop it.
VAWA also does not recognize honor-based violence, including threats, coercion, physical and sexual violence and, in the most extreme cases, so-called “honor killings.” It should. No woman or girl in America should face violence because someone believes her actions have brought shame or dishonor upon a family or community.
VAWA’s next reauthorization must also be one of greater accountability. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars flow through VAWA programs. Justice Department Inspector General audits spanning roughly two decades have repeatedly identified millions in questionable costs and funds that could have been put to better use in OVW programs. As recently as June 2026, one audit of two major VAWA programs identified more than $22 million sitting in expired grant accounts and another $1.2 million in excess drawdowns. While the Office on Violence Against Women had addressed much of that by the time the audit was released, the Inspector General still recommended action involving roughly $7.5 million in remaining funds and questioned costs.
Congress must demand stronger financial controls, rigorous auditing, greater transparency and meaningful accountability for organizations entrusted with taxpayer dollars. It should also insist on measurable results. VAWA grants have to remain firmly connected to the law’s fundamental purposes: preventing violence, protecting victims, providing meaningful services and holding perpetrators accountable.
Thirty-two years after VAWA was signed, the women and girls it was created to protect deserve more than another routine reauthorization. They deserve a stronger Violence Against Women Act.
Andrea G. Bottner, J.D., Former Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice and Senior Vice President, External Relations, Independent Women.