Violence against women and girls is not just a problem in countries like Afghanistan and Somalia. It’s happening in the U.S., too. In her op-ed in “The Atlantic,” Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the founder of the AHA Foundation, urges the public to recognize honor violence as an urgent domestic issue.
“Even when a woman or girl finds the courage to reach out for help, often our public services are unresponsive because service providers, law enforcement officers, teachers and health care professionals simply do not understand the distinctive nature of honor violence,” she writes.
Ali cites Tahirih Justice Center’s 2011 survey on forced marriages as one of the few resources available that attempts to quantify the impact of violence against women and girls in the United States.
