When a gang rape at a prestigious university makes headlines, or a gunman in Erie, Pennsylvania, kills eight people—including a pregnant woman and her mother—the public reacts with horror. But these are not random acts. They are part of a broader, deeply entrenched pattern of gender-based violence that claims lives every day, often far from the national spotlight.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in three women experience intimate partner violence or stalking in their lifetime. Nearly half of all women face some form of sexual violence, from rape to coercion to unwanted contact. These are not anomalies; they are statistical norms.
Even as overall murder rates have fallen to historic lows, domestic violence homicides have barely budged. Pregnant and new mothers are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes. From 2014 to 2023, the number of women killed by intimate partners with guns jumped 36 percent, averaging more than 70 women per month shot and killed by a partner between 2020 and 2023.
Behind each number is a shattered family. Consider the mother in Shreveport, Louisiana, who survived being shot in the face by her estranged husband—but lost her children. Or the countless survivors whose stories never make the news.
Technology has added new dimensions of harm, from sexually explicit deepfakes to recorded assaults distributed online. Marginalized communities face even higher risks. Yet these crimes remain among the most underreported: less than a quarter of sexual violence incidents were reported to police in 2024, and about half of intimate partner violence goes unreported in a typical year.
The tendency to treat each case as isolated obscures the truth: violence against women is patterned, persistent, predictable, and preventable. It is also solvable. The evidence points to four key strategies.
Housing and Economic Support
First, providing housing and economic support is critical. Economic dependence and lack of affordable housing trap women in abusive situations, where violence can escalate to lethality. Many women return to abusers simply to avoid homelessness.
Healthcare-Based Interventions
Second, offering every woman information about safety and support services before she discloses abuse can be life-saving. Health clinics provide a private, non-judgmental setting where survivors can access resources without having to name what is happening.
Early Education on Healthy Relationships
Third, early education on healthy relationships—especially for young people before the teen and early adult years when abuse often begins—can prevent revictimization. Recognizing red flags, normalizing ongoing consent, and challenging everyday disrespect are essential.
Data and Transparency
Finally, high-quality data and transparency are crucial. The Clery Act of 1990 was a step forward, but it only counts incidents reported to campus authorities or police, resulting in a gross undercount. The public deserves the true scope of the problem.
These four solutions are central to the National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, released in 2023 and shaped by survivors, law enforcement, healthcare providers, and advocates. However, the White House Gender Policy Council that coordinated the plan was dissolved in January 2025, when the second Trump administration began. That must not halt progress.
As Michele Decker, director of the Center for Global Women's Health and Gender Equity at Johns Hopkins, argues, “We have the data, the framework, and the tools. It's time to keep working towards solutions. Women's lives are depending on us.”
The crisis is not inevitable. It is a policy failure—and one that can be fixed.
