Confronting Violence: Improving Women's Lives

Activists and reformers in the United States have long recognized the harm of domestic violence and sought to improve the lives of women who were battered.

During the late 20th century, nurses took up the call. With passion and persistence they worked to reform a medical profession that overwhelmingly failed to acknowledge violence against women as a serious health issue. Beginning in the late 1970s, nurses were in the vanguard as they pushed the larger medical community to identify victims, adequately respond to their needs, and work towards the prevention of domestic violence. This is their story.