The White House is expected to launch a new initiative to protect women, particularly on college campuses, from sexual violence.
In response to a report showing that one in five college women have been victims of sexual violence, the Obama administration plans to unveil a new task force on Wednesday to help protect students from abuse.
According to the report, “Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action,” almost half of the women survivors were raped before the age of 18. More than a third of those who were raped as minors were also assaulted as adults, the analysis found.
Most women victims know their perpetrators, who are 98% men, according to the report.
But men are also victims. More than one-quarter of men survivors were raped before they were 10 years old. And 1 in 71 men, or about 1.6 million, have been victims of sexual violence during their lives. Additionally, 93% of men survivors also report their assailants are of the same gender.
The White House Council on Women and Girls compiled the report and released it to the public on Wednesday to advocate for change in social norms, improve criminal justice response, and protect students from sexual abuse. Police sometimes do not arrest or prosecute alleged rape assailants because of various factors, including bias following beliefs that some victims falsely claim abuse, the authors argue.
President Obama is expected to sign a new memorandum that will establish the White House Task Force on Protecting Students from Sexual Assault. He, along with Vice President Joe Biden, subsequently will hold a meeting with various Cabinet members to analyze progress on reform and to renew an order to protect Americans.
“For me this really demonstrates that President Obama understands it is a complex issue that needs to be addressed simultaneously on many fronts, both in education but also within our case-services programs,” Holly Rider-Milkovich, director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center at the University of Michigan, told msnbc.
Rider-Milkovich said the report’s findings reinforce longstanding research that in the past overwhelmingly indicated the vulnerability of college-aged women to sexual violence.
“I think it’s really important for colleges and universities to bring a comprehensive, universal approach not only to have robust and effective response protocols and crisis-support for victims, but also for prevention,” she said.
Obama last month gave military leaders a year to conduct a comprehensive review of the establishment’s sexual assault response and prevention programs after several high-profile military cases drew public scrutiny throughout 2013. He ordered Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey to submit their findings this year by Dec. 1.
Recorded assaults within the armed forces increased by more than 50% last year. There were more than 5,000 reported incidents between Oct. 1, 2012 and Sept. 30, 2013.
Congress enacted the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 under the leadership of then-senator Joe Biden, thus recognizing the severity of attacks against women and the need for a national strategy. Last March the president signed the third re-authorization of the act to include federal protections to combat assault for gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals, as well as Native Americans and immigrants. It also imposed new obligations on colleges and universities to address and prevent sexual violence.
In 2010, Obama ordered all federal agencies to prioritize the prevention of domestic and sexual violence. He will meet with members of several of those groups on Wednesday.
Victims of abuse often suffer from depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and chronic pain, according to the report. The prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses appears to result from the dynamics of college life as many victims are abused while they are drunk, passed out, or under the influence of drugs.
Higher rates of reporting assaults by student victims can reveal that they trust and have confidence in an institution’s ability to deal with the situation, Rider-Milkovich said. Bringing the issue to the forefront of national conversations can create an environment where survivors are more comfortable speaking out against their perpetrators.
“I think that college campuses nationally will benefit,” Rider-Milkovich added, “from having more guidance and more resources available to help us do the most effective work possible.”