Note: This story contains sensitive but important issues, including sexual assault and domestic violence.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Michigan has the fourth highest rate of sexual assault in the country.
The Women’s Resource Center in Traverse City has been working on this issue for 50 years. It was started in 1975 by a group of women wanting to advocate for themselves.
"They were looking for avenues for education, for employment and for support of one another," said board member Jane Hayes.
But an incident in 1979 changed the mission of the Women's Resource Center.
"A woman by the name of Jeanette Smith was charged with second degree murder of her husband in Kalkaska County," Hayes said. "She was found not guilty. The defense was the battered woman syndrome. This was a period in the history of the WRC [Women's Resource Center] to begin to really look at what the conditions and the concerns of women were, particularly around the issue of domestic violence and sexual assault."
Sexual assault and domestic violence is something that affects everyone said Jamie Bell, director of giving at the WRC.
"Doesn't matter who you are or how you identify. We know that one in five American women have survived sexual assault, and that's a significant number," Bell said.
It's also a significant issue for women who are unhoused.
"When we look at the landscape of our own community changing, we see lots of people coming to the area," she said. "We know that 80 percent of women who are unhoused have landed in this situation as a result of domestic or sexual violence. We know that 96 percent of unhoused women are sexually assaulted. It's important for us to tune into our community and as it grows, just being aware of the issues that that come with that."
Stream the full conversation at the top of the page.
Contact the Women's Resource Center at 1-800-554-4972. Calls are free and confidential. You can also reach them on their website.
The Women's Resource Center will hold a 50th anniversary event May 21. Details here.
