From The New York Times

Violence against women by their live-in spouses or partners is a widespread phenomenon, both in the developed and developing world, as well as in rural and urban areas, the most comprehensive and scientific international study on the topic has confirmed.

In interviews with nearly 25,000 women at 15 sites in 10 countries, researchers from the World Health Organization found that rates of partner violence ranged from a low of 15 percent in Yokohama, Japan, to a high of 71 percent in rural Ethiopia.

At six of the sites, at least 50 percent of women said that they had been subjected to moderate or severe violence in the home at some point. At 13 sites, more than a quarter of all women said they had suffered such violence in the past year.

From Feminist.com

Lorrie Sue McClary knows very little beyond prison life, having been being convicted of first degree felony murder at 16.

Some 30 years later, McClary is now able to entertain the possibility of experiencing life on the outside.

Last Friday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation in the state assembly that gives real hope of release to battered women (and men) who can prove their abusers coerced them into committing violent crimes. The law will also allow new legal opportunities for women involved in an attempted murder or a felony with their abusive partner and convicted before August 29, 1996, if they can show proof of battery or domestic violence that would have affected the outcome of their trial.

It will allow legal teams to do whole new investigations to ascertain what difference the testimony of an expert on battering would have made in the outcome of the trial.

From Lima News

An appellate court ruling this week declared Ohio's domestic violence law invalid for unmarried people living together without children.

The 3rd District Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling found in the case of a Logan County man the law violates a constitutional marriage amendment voters passed in 2004. The court said the domestic violence law had recognized a legal status similar to marriage, which conflicted with the amendment.

Assistant Logan County Prosecutor Eric Stewart said the ruling will be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. He has 30 days to file the appeal. Dallas McKinley filed the appeal after he was convicted of domestic violence, a fourth-degree felony on the second conviction, in connection with a December 2004 incident involving his girlfriend. McKinley pushed his girlfriend, hit her and threw objects at her. He admitted to having consumed alcohol before the assault and said his behavior changes when he drinks, according to court records.

From Alternet

Low-income women and child-care workers are the missing component in the whole debate about working vs. stay-at-home mothers.

Sandra had only recently received her license to provide childcare, in 2001, when she first came across Khalid and his mother, Tanisha Watson, at the Jesse Owens Playground in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The park had become an afternoon retreat for the five kids that Sandra was supervising, located two blocks from the house she shares with her mother. After working with youth at various agencies for the previous two decades, Sandra had decided to convert the first-floor apartment into a classroom and play area-naming it Kwame's Place after her 10-year-old grandson-and was thrilled with her new job as neighborhood caregiver.

Tanisha was exhausted, with good reason. She was working from midnight to 8 a.m. as a payments operator at Bank of America's office in the World Trade Center. During the evening Khalid's father stayed with the one-year-old, but when Tanisha got home the next morning, Khalid was rested and ready to play. She'd make breakfast, take a quick shower and head over to the park, struggling to keep her eyes open.

From The Washington Post

Yvette Cade stepped up to the microphone and the church went silent.

"I am a victim of domestic violence. I was set on fire by my estranged husband," she said, head held high, looking out over the 350 or so people gathered inside the main sanctuary at Fort Foote Baptist Church in Fort Washington. "Take a look at my scars. I was burned at 1,500 degrees. . . . One year later, I am here as a witness, a survivor and a soldier on the battlefield for Christ. Stop the domestic violence. Please."

The church erupted in a thunderous ovation. It was more than two hours into the 11 a.m. church service, and Cade, along with other Prince George's County "soldiers" in the war against domestic violence, had come to the church as part of Project Safe Sunday, a program started four years ago to bring the clergy into the effort to fight the problem. Prince George's has more domestic violence than any other jurisdiction in Maryland.

From The Urban Institute

The business of matching American men with foreign women looking for a better life is booming, thanks largely to Internet operations that promise love and companionship for both.

In many cases, that's exactly what each finds. But growing evidence also suggests that some "mail-order brides" in the United States are suffering from physical, sexual and psychological abuse.

But the sales pitch isn't all about finding true love. As one site chillingly boasts, a "Russian woman will rarely leave a bad (really bad) husband because of the fear that she won't find another one. For many years, the state and men have been oppressing them, and they don't think much about themselves." That kind of message, painting would-be brides as docile, compliant and uncomplaining, is raising fears that these businesses are appealing to men no woman should be saddled with - those with a history of violence and abuse.