Gender-based violence is a public safety and public health crisis, affecting urban, suburban, rural, and Tribal communities across the United States. Yet for many years, the U.S. Government viewed gender-based violence largely as a global problem, with no coordinated, whole-of-government strategy to combat this scourge at home. 

That is now changing. In May 2023, the Biden Administration unveiled the U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies for Action, in a pivotal moment in the nation’s commitment to combat gender-based violence (GBV). The U.S. National Plan’s launch marks a key step in the government’s efforts to respond to GBV with stakeholders across industries in order to strengthen preventive action, coordinate federal government programs, and center the needs and perspectives of survivors. The U.S. National Plan provides the first coordinated, whole-of-government strategy on GBV and is structured in seven foundational pillars to guide action: prevention; support, healing, safety, and well-being; economic security and housing stability; online safety; legal and justice systems; emergency preparedness and crisis response; and research and data. The Plan is rooted in a human rights framework and follows U.N. Women’s call for states to establish a National Action Plan (NAP) on GBV as a best practice—a step that dozens of countries have already taken.  

In February, the Human Rights Institute hosted a conversation about the U.S. National Plan with Caroline Bettinger-López, Professor of Law at University of Miami School of Law and former Senior Advisor on Gender and Equality at the U.S. Department of Justice. A key architect of the Plan, Professor Bettinger-López provided insights into the Plan’s development, impact, and future implementation. The talk was moderated by Catherine Cooper, HRI Dash-Muse Senior Teaching Fellow.