On this, the event's tenth anniversary, two major developments have emerged: first, U.N. and governmental officials at the highest levels are signing on to end violence against women, rather than the issue being restricted to women-specific subsidiaries. Two, there's a new focus on getting men involved. The launch of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Network of Men's Leaders to fight violence against women neatly illustrates both trends.

Nanette Braun, the head of communications for the UNIFEM, told me yesterday, "When you see how much advocacy is going on at the highest level, at a certain point maybe the time is ripe...and enough momentum has been created around an issue."

Of course, that momentum has been created by the hard work of women's organizations around the world. As Braun put it,

It's been a long struggle and a long path by women's advocates to bring this issue at the top of the agenda. First of all it was regarded more or less as a private issue, so the push was to make it public. Because it is not private, it's a crime. Then there was a push for legislation. If it is a crime, let's have laws. Now there is more legislation. Is it perfect? No. Is it everywhere? No. But you have a good body of legislation right now. We now see that that alone is not enough, either. You need the capacity and the knowledge and the resources and the political will to implement the legislation because the best law is nothing if it's not being implemented.

Ban also joined a panel of men who are actively working to end violence against women, including Todd Minerson, the executive director of the White Ribbon Campaign. "We need to shift the paradigm from a few good men working on women's issues to all leaders being accountable to addressing violence against women," Minerson said, adding that generally, he refers to "''men's violence against women' instead of just 'violence against women' because men get taken out of the picture. It's important to understand that when we talk about interventions, we have to talk about men and we have to talk about masculinity."

Of course, just because the Secretary General is involved, doesn't mean that suddenly the entire United Nations agenda has been reshaped. At the press conference that followed, the formal, ceremonial tone was broken up only slightly by more provocative questions.

One was from a man from a Norwegian news agency (at about 29:00 in the video seen here) : "Sir, you announced today grants of $10.5 million dollars to end violence against women. In light of the massive magnitude of this problem, that seems like a very small sum. Why is it so difficult to get funding for this?"

The Secretary General responded,

We will continue to ask for generous contributions...This is not an issue of any individual group or country. This is sort of a global issue. This must be stopped and prevented. For that, we need resources in addition to political priority, political awareness. And that's what I said. We are going to raise $100 million annually in the coming five years. I really urge governments, business communities, philanthropists and NGOs and all individuals to generously cooperate in providing necessary findings so that we can lead this campaign in a more coherent way and more comprehensive manner.

In other words, give us more money.

For now, here's the campaign's PSA, co-starring UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman. Another major facet of the campaign is the Say NO—UNiTE website, which offers web tools for groups around the world to track their actions.

Next week: An Interview with Ghida Anani, a twenty-eight year-old women's rights activist in Lebanon and co-founder of Kafa, on efforts to have domestic violence cases tried in a new civil court, and on launching men's forums to combat violence against women.

UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women Announces US$10.5 Million in Grants for 13 Projects in 18 Countries [Say No to Violence]
Ban Launches New Network of Men Leaders To Combat Violence Against Women [UN News Centre]

Since the 1986 "War on Drugs" kicked off and introduced mandatory drug sentencing , the number of women in prison has risen 400 percent - amongst black women, the number is twice that. Of the women in prison, 80% have addictions, and more than 60% have minor children.

Addicts who give birth have it hard: because a woman can be prosecuted for using while pregnant, many avoid the prenatal care that their babies, in particular, need. What's worse, recovery programs, afraid of costly lawsuits, routinely refuse treatment to pregnant women. Once born, newborns who test positive for drugs are immediately put into foster care under the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act. Mothers entering treatment often have to waive all custody rights to their babies in order to get clean; the result is what the "Moms Living Clean" website refers to as "a generation of legal orphans." As one might imagine, the situation in prison is hardly less grim: from the mandatory handcuffing of women giving birth to the instant removal of new babies, the process is punitive and impersonal.

As an alternative to these traditional approaches, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, a Division of Federal Health and Human Services, has funded 35 innovative residential treatment and recovery programs for pregnant women and mothers of young children, all non-violent drug offenders. A new documentary, Moms Living Clean, by filmmaker Sheila Ganz, spends three years with the patients at one such experimental program, Center Point, Inc. Women and Children's Residential Treatment in San Rafael, California.

The 40-person facility provides a 6 month residential program, transitional housing, and medical, psychological, educational and vocational counseling. The six women chronicled - an abuse victim, one mother trying to break out of prostitution, several introduced to drugs by parents - thrive in the new atmosphere, gaining confidence, independence and forging relationships with their children. Says program director Dr. Sushma Taylor,

I have a 100% success rate, because as long as they're with me, they're clean, they're living a happy life and they are with their children. And that is success. I equate long term success with family reunification and the self-esteem enhancement that we're able to provide for our women, who perhaps have never worked in their lives, perhaps are third generation recipients of public benefits. We attribute that to instilling a value system… that starts with hope and has a lot of love attached to it. We believe that there is goodness in our clients when they don't believe they're worth too much. And since we believe in them, they begin to slowly believe in themselves. And when they believe in themselves there is empowerment.

As the documentary would have it, the story is unilaterally feel-good, a triumph of good over indifference, people over policy. And that's great. But given the amount of care, counseling, and funding expended upon each woman, it seems hardly likely that the government will be willing to institute such programs across the board. Then too, these are six women we are seeing, and very possibly six women specially selected as good candidates for the experiment; it's hard to say whether a larger-scale operation would run as well. That said, the real barriers are philosophical: the "war on drugs" makes enemies of addicts, casts their illness in moral terms, and its policies hinge on the notion that someone who's subjected her child to such risks is, by definition, unfit. Prisons are not in the business of redemption; that's why it's still a story when it happens. But these are stories we need to hear - and in this case, see. Feel good? Sure. But sometimes that's earned.

Moms Living Clean [Babble]
Moms Living Clean [Official Site]

Usually when people get fucked up, they're doing so to forget about the problems in their sober lives. However, Evan and his girlfriend smoke and then have cry fests. It was difficult for me to have much sympathy for him and his situation, seeing as how he is in college, doesn't have a job, and complains about his lack of money while snorting crushed up pills on his iPhone box.

• Fergie absolutely does not rap about Candie's shoes because she is paid to rap about Candie's shoes. She only raps about brand names she's not paid to rap about, like Bentleys and Taco Bell. She keeps it real that way. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Yves Saint Laurent has been hospitalized and is reportedly "not doing well." But he's kind of a hypochondriac so whatevs. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• Our favorite fashion blogger, Lauren Goldstein Crowe, is not happy. Because she used to be able to get Miu Miu on the cheap, and now, shit is fucking expensive. We get the feeling her press discount might've gone bye-bye. [Portfolio]
  
• England continues to lay down the law when it comes to models: Not only must they be over age 16, but now there can't be any cigarettes or (gasp!) recreational drugs backstage! And blah blah blah they want the girls to weigh more, unionize, go to school, get acupuncture, find spiritual well-being... basically turn them into Mount Holyoke students or something. Yeah, THAT'LL sell clothes. [WWD, sub req'd]

• Badgley Mishka to debut its first-ever swimwear line at Miami Fashion Week. We can't help but conjure up images of intricately beaded maillots... which, frankly, sorta creeps us out. [Vogue UK]
• Listen up boys and girls! Even people who run international ice cream companies can become CEO's of luxury houses one day! [Vogue UK]
• So you know how haute couture means that the garment was hand-sewn and made from a custom pattern for your perfect little body? Um, not so much. [WSJ]