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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's high rates of sexual and domestic violence need to be addressed, said Susan Madsen, founder of the Utah Women in Leadership project.
She pleaded with state leaders, advocates and members of the community who gathered Monday to discuss how to implement policies and practices to advance women's equality in Utah.
The lunch meeting featured multiple panel discussions on corporate culture, education and political representation — all areas indicated as key areas or opportunities for improvement.
But to truly improve women's inequality, the state must first address a large underlying factor of domestic and sexual violence, said Madsen. Rape is the only violent crime in Utah that ranks higher than the national average, according to Utah Department of Health data.
"If you have been sexually assaulted, if you are worried about violence in your own home, you will not be starting a business. You will not fight for yourself to get higher raises," said Madsen. "We don't rank well at all in the state on domestic violence and sexual violence and child sexual assault."
Studies in Utah suggest that one in six women and one in 25 men experience rape or attempted rape during their lifetime, according to the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. Additionally, nearly one in three women will experience some form of sexual violence during their lives.
"It is unacceptable, and it is unacceptable for another month, another year as we stand and do nothing as hundreds, if not thousands of children and women are being abused and raped," said Madsen. "And I think no matter what else we're doing, we should get the masses in 2022 to do something about this, to stop it here in the state."
Addressing domestic violence and sexual violence can be complex and complicated. It requires many voices and perspectives, which is why Madsen and Nubia Peña, the governor's senior adviser on equity and opportunity, have been asked to convene a working group and facilitate conversations among advocates as part of the initiatives in the Cox-Henderson administration's One Utah Roadmap.
"We can talk about upward mobility and economic thriving. We can talk about education. We can talk about all these things that are predictable to a person's ability to thrive in Utah," Peña said. "But if we're not talking about safety and well-being, we're missing a huge, huge population that will not say, 'I need help.'"
In 2018, the Utah Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey found 14.7% of respondents indicated that they experienced a form of sexual abuse as a child. The survey shows that those who report lifetime rape were significantly more likely to:
- Have seven or more poor mental health days, at 42.8% compared to 15.5% of people who didn't experience rape in their lifetime.
- Miss more than seven days of work or activities, at 28.6% vs. 13.4%.
- Have difficulty concentrating or remembering, at 26.5% vs. 9.1%.
- Binge drink, at 16.6% vs. 10.2%.
- Smoke every day, at 13.4% vs. 4.9%.
- Have difficulty doing errands alone, at 15.9% vs. 3.5%.
- Have poor health, at 6.8% vs. 3.1%.
The ongoing, monthly work group discussions on the matter began in January and include legislators, domestic and sexual violence coalition members, as well as community advocates. The goal is to create a strategic plan on how the state can fully address sexual and domestic violence.
"The work that we're trying to do and lift is very heavy. Sexual violence and domestic abuse is absolutely a problem in our state," said Peña. "We don't talk about it enough and it is not elevated to a point where people are strategically engaged in the discussion in a way that the legislators are saying, 'What's next?'"
Priority risk and protective factors for preventing sexual violence in Utah identified by the Utah Department of Health include:
- Societal norms that support violence/sexual violence
- Adherence to traditional gender norms
- Gender equity
- Association with pro-social peers
- Skill-solving problems in a nonviolent manner
- Community support and connectedness
In 2011, the Utah Department of Health found that the costs resulting from sexual violence reached nearly $5 billion. The state government spent more than $92 million on people known to have perpetrated sexual violence, but only $569,000 was spent on efforts to prevent sexual violence, the data shows.
More recently, legislators have worked to address sexual and domestic violence in a variety of ways. Their efforts include addressing the backlog of rape kits, allocating funds to shelters or resource centers, and passing further protections for victims.
But to fully address the issues, Madsen and Peña called for a collective effort.
"Part of the work that we're trying to do is to create a strategic plan for the state of Utah for how we're going to decrease our numbers," said Peña. "But so many people need to be a part of this because if it's not all of us, we will continue to lose our women, our people in poverty, people who are experiencing poverty, and our babies every single day."
