Thirteen percent of women in college have reported being stalked with 80% of survivors stating that they knew their stalker, according to Know Your IX, a project of Advocates for Youth.

   “Sometimes at night, I would feel scared to go out to my car at my old apartment complex. But now that I moved to a house, I feel a lot safer,” said Caitlin Rendel, a junior at Valencia College and Orlando resident. “I normally try to avoid being out places late at night by myself and if I am, I’ll make sure I carry pepper spray with me when I go, which makes me feel a little bit safer. At my house, my roommates and I have bats that we keep in our rooms.” 

  According to a report published by UN Women, approximately 736 million women have been victims of intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.  Seventy six percent of women murdered by an intimate partner were initially stalked, with women aged 18-24 reporting the highest rate of stalking victimization. 

“I wouldn’t say domestic violence has gotten better or worse, but I will say that I feel people speak out against it more often now,” said Rendel. “We have a long way to go but I do think it’s a good start.” 

The body of Marcano, a Valencia College student, was found eight days after her initial disappearance from her apartment in Central Florida. 

 The Orange County Sheriff’s Department believes Armando Manuel Caballero, a maintenance worker at Arden Villas, is solely responsible for Marcano’s death. According to deputies, Caballero utilized a master key fob to access Marcano’s apartment and was waiting inside when she returned home. 

 “It’s critical to raise awareness around topics like domestic abuse and other forms of trauma, so we can support victims who reach out for our help,” said Nina Mendes, communications assistant at Valerie’s House, a nonprofit organization that provides counseling for grieving families in Naples, Florida.  “We can always work to better our understanding of grief and learn new ways to assist victims. Cases like these bring loss and bereavement into the spotlight.”

 The murder of Miya Marcano follows the death of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, whose body was found in Wyoming after her disappearance while on a cross-country road trip with her fiancé. The stories of both young women’s deaths sparked a resurgence in discussions regarding women’s safety within the country.  

  October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and universities throughout the United States continue to implement new security protocols to protect their student population. 

 “Personally, my roommates and I have agreed to let everyone in our apartment know when we put in any maintenance requests, so we have a good idea of when people who work in our building should be entering and exiting our unit,” said Cassidy Batts, a junior at the University of Central Florida. 

 Mandatory sexual assault training, campus-wide safety buttons that summon university police and an increase of accessibility to Title IX resources have become commonplace throughout the country’s colleges, all serving as methods to protect young adults. 

 “A lot of people aren’t sure what to say or do in these types of situations,” said Mendes.

“By shedding light on these sensitive issues, we can provide various avenues of support to ensure lasting recovery and healing.”

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For women who are experiencing gender-based violence, a mandatory lockdown traps them with their abusers, giving them less opportunities to escape physical and verbal abuse. 

“The home, if you have to share it with your abuser, turns into a place of risk,” said Vilma González, executive director at Coordinadora Paz para las Mujeres, a coalition against domestic violence and sexual abuse. “Most women in Puerto Rico die in their homes.”

In Puerto Rico, 65 percent of femicides in 2018 ocurred in the victim’s residence, the abuser’s or in a house they both shared. Last year, at least 10 women were murdered by an intimate partner or ex-partner, according to Puerto Rico’s Police Bureau. 

More than 30 organizations led by Coordinadora Paz para las Mujeres on Tuesday demanded Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced take concrete actions to address gender-based violence during the pandemic. In a letter addressed to Vázquez Garced, who was head of the island’s Office of the Procurator for Women, the groups urged her to recognize shelters for domestic violence victims as essential services, define how the government will administer Covid-19 tests in shelters, guarantee shelters will have access to cleaning products, and divulge government agencies’ plans to protect victims. 

González said abusers could take advantage of social distancing measures to exert further control over women and their children. She said the pandemic provokes stressors that tend to trigger violence. 

“Under mandatory quarantine, the risks increase because we have more stressors,” González said. “Women are facing difficulties with their jobs or their partners are facing economic concerns, plus children are in the home. One stressful situation is being added over another and another.”

Globally, one in three women experience physical or sexual violence, according to the World Health Organization. But during times of humanitarian emergencies, the risk of gender-based violence grows due to increased stress and feelings of powerlessness, scarcity of basic provisions and destruction of social networks. 

In China, activists say domestic violence cases rose dramatically during the enforced lockdown meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The founder of an anti-domestic violence nonprofit located in the Hubei province, the epicenter of the virus in China, said reports of domestic violence have nearly doubled since cities were put under lockdown. 

González said the spike in cases of violence against women in China should serve as a warning for other countries to take preventive measures so “no one has to die because of domestic violence.”

On Monday, a woman was killed by her ex-partner in a psychologist’s office in Aguada, a town in the western region of the island. The man died by suicide. 

Vázquez Garced issued an executive order on Sunday to impose a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. until March 30 to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Puerto Rico, where there are eight confirmed cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel virus. The governor also ordered a two-week closure of non-essential businesses, excluding supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and gas stations. 

Social worker Larry Alicea-Rodríguez said the lockdown puts domestic violence victims at risk by minimizing their visibility. 

“If a woman has a bruise but has to go to work, if a woman has a bruise but has to interact with her family, it’s likely that those persons outside the house will realize something is wrong,” said Alicea-Rodríguez, president of the International Federation of Social Worker’s Latin America and Caribbean region. “By being confined to the house, the possibility of the abuse being visible reduces and the security risk increases.”

He said the government has failed to implement plans to address the social problems caused by the measures taken during emergencies. Alicea-Rodríguez pointed out that Spain’s Ministry of Equality, for example, promoted resources to minimize the risk of assaults during the country’s lockdown. 

“These things are foreseeable,” Alicea-Rodríguez said. “At a macro-policy level, there is no social policy system that guarantees the continuation of essential social services, and one of them is the protection of victims.”

The Office of the Procurator for Women, a government institution dedicated to advocating for women’s rights, said on Tuesday its confidential hotline will continue operating 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Madeline Bermúdez, interim head of the agency, said the office will also provide counseling, and psychological and legal aid. 

Courts, meanwhile, will continue to issue restraining orders and will extend restraining orders that expire between March 16 and 30. 

For social psychologist Mercedes Rodríguez, gender-based violence is usually absent from public discussions when addressing a crisis. She recalled the island experienced a similar situation after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. 

“After the hurricanes, the crisis situation was terrible,” Rodríguez said. “There were less police officers, they weren’t answering calls. The chaos prevented victims from getting access to the justice they’re entitled to.”

Organizations reported an increase in violence against women after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island. More than two years after the hurricanes, the government lacks protocols to aid women who experience gender-based violence during an emergency. 

Rodríguez said domestic violence shelters are usually not on the government’s radar during crises and are provided little to no resources. During the outbreak, she added, shelters should be guaranteed access to essential supplies, considering several women and children are sharing a limited space and have nowhere else to go. 

Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos, the first domestic violence shelter established in Puerto Rico, has taken new precautions against the coronavirus. Lawyer Olga López-Báez, chair of the shelter’s board of directors, said they are screening new arrivals and will follow recommended guidelines if someone presents symptoms. 

López-Báez said nonprofits like Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos, opened 40 years ago, have stepped up to provide services to women who are experiencing gender-based violence in the face of the government’s inaction. 

“Just like Covid-19, domestic violence is a matter of high priority and it is a matter of public health,” López-Báez said. “We see an absence of policies that comprehensively respond to this social evil.”

Since 2018, women’s rights advocates in Puerto Rico have demanded the government to declare a state of emergency because of gender-based violence. Between 2014 and 2018, 266 women were murdered in Puerto Rico, or one every seven days, according to a report by anti-police brutality organization Kilómreto Cero and feminist group Proyecto Matria. 

López-Báez advised women who are experiencing gender-based violence to contact organizations during the lockdown via social media or over the phone. The shelter offers orientation through several hotlines in different areas of the island.

Hogar Ruth, a domestic violence service shelter, has been offering some services remotely. Lisdell Flores, the shelter’s director, said lawyers are on-call 24 hours a day and seven days a week to provide aid and the shelter’s doors will remain open during the pandemic. 

“The shelter is still operating,” said Flores. “It’s a space we can’t shut down. We habilitated an isolated space just in case we receive someone who was exposed to the virus.”

Flores said the shelter has been able to buy cleaning supplies, but is worried a total closure of stores could limit access to basic necessities. She said categorizing domestic violence shelters as essential services would be vital to continue doing work. 

Taller Salud, a feminist community based organization, operates hotline 787-697-1120 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Lourdes Inoa Monegro, director of the organization’s Women and Health Programs, said Taller Salud’s hotline services towns in the northeastern region of the island: Loíza, Río Grande, Fajardo, Luquillo, Carolina and Canóvanas. 

“We are the only therapeutic service provider in the east that is free of cost,” said Inoa Monegro, who has been with Taller Salud for 10 years. “We were concerned that all 24/7  services be accumulated or directed from San Juan. We are trying to be part of this collective effort in the area as an organization that adressess violence against women.”

Inoa Monegro said staff has been working remotely. She added that the organization’s personnel and psychologists have been checking-in via telephone with women who receive services from Taller Salud and have gone through the women’s security plans and making sure they have enough supplies for two weeks. 

“It doesn’t matter if a call doesn’t come in one day, it doesn’t matter if a call doesn’t come in another day, it doesn’t matter if a call doesn’t come in a week,” said Inoa Monegro. “The important thing is that, the day a call comes in, help is available.”

The advocates urged domestic violence victims to elaborate security plans, maintain a support system and reach out to organizations that service women who have survived violence or abuse. Their message to women experiencing gender-based violence: You are not alone. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact any of the following resources:

Office of the Procurator for Women at (787) 722-2977

Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos at (787) 723-3500 in San Juan, (787) 284-4303 in Ponce, and (787) 891-2031 in Aguadilla

Hogar Ruth at (787) 883-1884 and (787) 792-6596

Taller Salud at (787) 697-1120

Hogar Nueva Mujer at (939) 255-9800 and (787) 202-4634

Casa Pensamiento de Mujer del Centro at (787) 686-2000 in Guayama and (787) 735-6698 in Aibonito

You can download  a directory  compiled by Coordinadora Paz para las Mujeres that includes organizations and government agencies that will service women who are experiencing gender-based violence during the lockdown. 

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Her time directing the office established by the Violence Against Women Act constitutes some of her proudest memories. Now it’s also a painful reminder.

“What we’re seeing now is just all the more abhorrent to me,” Campbell said. “It’s hard to believe what’s happening.”

Although a bipartisan coalition passed the original act, reauthorization efforts have disintegrated into accusations of election politicking by both parties. That divide has put on hold more than $650 million of funding for programs that address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Now proponents like Campbell wait for elections to determine the fate of the bill.

“It’s a disturbing time across the country,” she said. “If I didn’t have a background in politics, I wouldn’t understand it myself. I tell you, it makes me crazy.”

Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary panel is against the bill.

Renewal of the legislation stalled after conflicting bills emerged from the two chambers of Congress. On April 26, the Senate approved a reauthorization bill with the support of all Democrats and about one third of the Republicans. Key provisions included language to protect individuals regardless of sexual orientation, to extend tribal jurisdiction to domestic violence cases perpetrated by non-Indians against native women, and to increase the number of temporary visas for immigrants who are the victims of domestic violence.

Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary panel, said he voted against the bill due to “significant waste, ineligible expenditures, immigration fraud and possible unconstitutional provisions.”

The next day, the House of Representatives introduced a narrower reauthorization bill stripped of those provisions. It passed by a slim margin of 222-205, with the support of just six out of 190 Democrats.  The House bill included harsher sentencing requirements for stalkers who target children and the elderly and increased funding designated for testing rape kits.

Jenny Rivera, a law professor at the City University of New York, is frustration at the politicization of the bill.

Jenny Rivera, a law professor at the City University of New York, expressed frustration at the politicization of a bill that had drawn bipartisan support for the past 18 years.

“These things are contentious, and I’m not saying there haven’t been challenges at other times,” she said. “But the reality is that, given the culture in Congress, … this is the most contentious I’ve ever seen the bill.”

John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary committee, is among many who say that Republicans are blocking the bill due to its provisions for same-sex couples, immigrants and native women.

“We want every member of the House Judiciary Committee to realize that this attack on women is going to be noted across the United States of America,” he said, during a press conference.

Many others, such as Sen. Jeff Sessions, have accused Democrats of using the Senate bill in order to be able to accuse Republicans of being anti-women.

“You think they might have put things in there we couldn’t support, that maybe then they could accuse you of not being supportive of fighting violence against women?” he told The New York Times.

The voting records support a strong bipartisan history beginning in 1994, when the legislation passed unanimously in the House as part of an omnibus crime bill. Campbell, who was then the state attorney general of Iowa, recalled support among other groups as well.

“I was working with state attorneys general, and some were pretty conservative and others were pretty liberal but no one was disagreeing over whether this legislation needed to pass,” she said. “It was significant because typically state attorneys don’t like when the federal government enters into their domain of criminal justice. But everyone understood that, if you’re a batterer or rapist crossing state lines, we’re able to get there.”

The legislation also established the Violence Against Women Office, which Campbell was appointed to run by then President Bill Clinton. The office, which has since been renamed the Office of Violence Against Women, administers financial and technical assistance to programs and policies established under the Violence Against Women Act.

The office has awarded more than $4.7 billion in grants and cooperative agreements. Funding has responded to expansions in the legislation to include sexual assault and stalking and different underserved populations.

In the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, the reauthorization extended protections to battered immigrants, sexual assault survivors, elderly victims, victims with disabilities and victims of dating violence.

John Cooksey, a Republican former representative, co-sponsored the bill.

“I feel more strongly about this because I have three daughters, now seven granddaughters,” he said. “But everyone realized that there are some bad guys out there that abuse women. There was no controversy over what should be done.”

The act was reauthorized a second time under the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005, which passed the House with a vote of 415-4. The bill focused on increasing access to services for racial minority groups, immigrant women, youth victims and tribal and native communities.

Rivera, the CUNY professor, said that the changes in the bill have been incremental responses to the needs of different populations. She believes that this remains the case with the legislation pending in Congress.

“Really, the reauthorizations raised the opportunity to think about what had gone on and for academics and policymakers to evaluate the impact of statute and how we can do better,” she said. “There are always issues that we didn’t anticipate, and we had a chance to address.”

Campbell worries that the climate of partisan hostility marks a trend that threatens to extend beyond the election. She has been troubled by what she identifies as a backlash against the legislation and the growing polarization over women’s issues.

“What has changed is the outspokenness of opposition,” she said. “The political environment has changed dramatically regarding the acceptance of radical views. Not just on domestic and sexual violence, but about abortion, contraception and pay equity.”

The bill remains in limbo. Rivera wondered whether it may pass in a lame-duck session. Campbell is certain the election will determine much more than when the bill is finally reauthorized.

“We know nothing will happen until after the election,” she said. “But then what?”

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A billboard advertises Safe Horizon's services in Spanish. Photo courtesy of litheland

Wanda Roman understands broken women.

She works as a legal advocate and counselor at My Sister’s Place in White Plains, N.Y., a nonprofit that provides assistance, shelter and counseling to victims of domestic abuse. She meets daily with battered mothers who are afraid to move forward and terrified to look back. She offers them what others cannot — the encouragement of a woman who was broken once, too.

For eight years, Roman lived with her abusive boyfriend, an obsessive cocaine addict who was jealous and controlling from the start of their relationship, refusing to let her talk to other men, and threatening to kill her if she did. At the time, Roman lived in Newark, N.J., working two jobs to support her four children and her boyfriend’s drug habit.

“The way I would deal with it was when I got paid, just to get him out of the house and my hair and to leave me and the kids alone, I would give him all of my money,” Roman said. “He would get high, and it would make him paranoid, and he would accuse me of these terrible things. If I was one minute late coming home, he was waiting for me at the bus stop, screaming in the middle of the street, ‘Who the hell were you sleeping with?’ ”

Roman said she rarely fought back, despite almost daily physical and sexual assaults. He was bigger than she was, and she felt powerless to stop him.

“I didn’t want to make a scene in front of the kids,” she said. “Finally, one day I just started kicking and screaming because I knew as soon as he dragged me into the bedroom he would make me do things I didn’t want to do. It was like being raped every other day.”

Roman’s terror is a daily reality for many. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. Most cases go unreported.

Roman said most of the women she works with at My Sister’s Place are hesitant to leave violent relationships. Many are too ashamed to admit to being abused. Others are simply afraid of what their partners might do next. Some are still in love.

Roman said the breaking point for her came when her boyfriend tried to molest her handicapped 11-year-old daughter.

“I really felt ashamed and filthy. I blamed myself for what almost happened to my daughter,” Roman said. “It was extremely hard for me to come to terms with that. I was a mother. You’re supposed to protect your children, and you should know better.”

Roman packed up and left, relocating three different times. Her boyfriend found her anyway. With no place left to go, she turned to My Sister’s Place. She hasn’t looked back.

Her story is not unusual. Each year, thousands of women call 1-800-621-HOPE, New York City’s domestic abuse crisis hotline run by Safe Horizon, the nation’s largest victim’s assistance agency. Last year, 2,000 people were placed in Safe Horizon’s emergency and transitional shelters located throughout the city.

“Domestic violence is all over the place,” said Claribel Jolie Pichardo, Safe Horizon’s marketing and communications specialist. “A domestic violence victim doesn’t fit one mold. That’s been the misconception — people think you have to be married, that you have to be poor. That’s not the case.”

Pichardo said Safe Horizon can house 550 people in its shelters at a time. Almost all shelters are currently at capacity.

Annemarie Vasquez directs a Safe Horizon emergency shelter in Brooklyn. All 45 of her beds are full. Vasquez’s residents, who come from a variety of backgrounds, live in apartment-like “dwellings” while they receive physical and mental crisis care, including counseling and group therapy. She refuses to call them victims.

“I call them survivors,” Vasquez said. “Survivors blame themselves. They say, ‘Why didn’t I leave sooner?’ We offer support groups for them to share their experiences and support the encouragement of other women. It’s very, very powerful. There’s a lot of healing that can happen there.”

Roman agrees. Today, she lives a quiet life in Orange County, N.Y., spending time with her children and walking her dog in the park. In 2004, her abuser was charged with two counts of child endangerment. Roman has an order of protection out against him.

She said the pain that lingers is haunting, but also empowering.

“When I can educate somebody and help them and see how their life is changing, that is healing for me,” Roman said. “When a woman gives you that hug at the end of a session and says, ‘Thank you,’ to me that’s totally healing. I heal Monday through Friday, every day.”

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Anna Castellanos, 58, of the Bronx, distributes homemade veils to demonstrators at an anti-domestic violence protest. Hundreds of women dressed in white came to Bride's March. Photo by Rachel Ohm

Anna Castellanos, 58, a seamstress and immigrant from El Salvador, stopped to readjust the white veil she wore pinned to her hair, one of 20 she made by hand.

She was was in the middle of pinning the veils to the heads of women and girls as they gathered on the steps of the Bronx County Courthouse before departing on a nearly 7-mile march through the South Bronx.

Castellanos made the veils in memory of a young Latina bride, Gladys Ricart, who was killed by her abusive former boyfriend in 2001 on the eve of her wedding to another man. They are part of the tradition in Bride’s March, an annual protest against domestic violence, for which women dress as brides to remember Ricart.

For the last three years, Castellanos has been making veils for participants as a way of remembering Ricart, and also to express the freedom she has experienced since her own break with domestic violence.

On Saturday, Castellanos, who speaks little English, listened silently as Nicole Dominguez, a young Latina woman, spoke on behalf of those affected by domestic abuse.

“I’m not a victim,” Dominguez said. “I’m a survivor.”

Meanwhile, Castellanos had given away the veils she made and began distributing index card-sized flyers with domestic violence hotline information. She carried a sign with a telephone number that read “Para ayuda llama.” For help, call.

Protesters carried dozens of signs like these at Sunday's anti-domestic violence Bride's March. Photo by Rachel Ohm

“In the Latin culture, it’s engrained in the women to be submissive to a man — to do what he says, to take care of the household, the kids. Don’t ask questions. Don’t say anything. We’re speaking out against that,” said Athena Rose, a psychologist and close friend of Castellanos who was also at the march and is herself a survivor of domestic abuse.

When she was 19, Rose was kicked in the tailbone by an abusive boyfriend and was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. She said though domestic abuse is hard to escape, there are three stages used to identify its progression.

The first stage is known as the honeymoon phase. “Everything is beautiful, everything is wonderful and you love the person. You may see some flags, but nothing really to alert you,” she said.

This is followed by a tension-building phase in which red flags pop up more often and the abuser seems like he or she is changing. Eventually the tension building leads to a “blow-up” or big incident very traumatic for the victim.

For Castellanos, this was when her husband burned her apartment and business down.

Although they had been married 21 years at that point, Castellanos said the abuse began when they were friends living in the same apartment building, before they were intimate.

One day, he slammed a car door on her fingers.

“I said, ‘Why are you so abusive?’ and he hugged me and he said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do it,’ ” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘This man is not for me. We do not mix well.’ ”

That day, he apologized profusely and said he loved her, something he would always do after an incident. He came home from school and knocked on her door. When he saw the bruises on her hand, he begged for forgiveness and the chance to be with her.

He bought her flowers and lingerie, and over time Castellanos developed feelings for him. Today, she refers to her ex-husband as if he no longer exists, calling him “the dead man” — a term Latina women use to refer to an abusive ex-husband. She knew the way he treated her — pulling her hair and then apologizing and saying she was beautiful — was not right, but she felt herself “between a rock and a hard place” because she loved him.

After they married, Castellanos recalls driving with her husband every day when he went to work. Once, on Valentine’s Day, he punched her teeth out in the car.

She says that after that, she lost respect for her husband. She feared him, but did not want to endanger others by involving them in the situation. Rose says that it is typical for abusers to turn violent towards people who try to help the victim.

“It’s very important to understand that if I’m the victim and you come to help me, you become a target. That fear, that intimidation, is much stronger, especially when it has been preceded by a physical encounter,” she said.

At the height of the abuse, Castellanos was trying to learn English and was taking computer classes. She describes herself as someone who worked hard and had goals for herself and her children. She always kept a list of the things she hoped to accomplish.

One day, she was at class and a male teacher was leaning over her shoulder to show her something on the computer. When her husband saw this, he beat the teacher.

After that she “had no peace” and lived in fear for her children, a boy and a girl from a previous relationship.

When Castellanos first met her ex-husband, and before they married, he kissed her 12-year-old daughter on the lips, the girl’s first kiss. Castellanos found out from her 7-year-old son, who had watched it happen.

“Mommy, Benjamin kissed Gladdy on her mouth,” she recalls her son saying.

After the fire, in which Castellanos lost everything she owned, a neighbor who worked with domestic violence victimes encouraged her to seek help. She slipped Castellanos the phone number of her agency on a index card-sized piece of paper at the laundromat — the only place where her husband would not find out.

In the same way, Castellanos and others handed out papers small enough to fold into a wallet or purse during the march on Sunday.

“You never know who might need them,” said Blanca Ramirez, a social worker also from the Bronx. “Women need to be able to be discreet.”

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