Violence against women is a important factor that keeps women locked in poverty, according to a recent NOW Legal Defense and Education review of government and academic studies. And maintaining the social safety net is an important element of ending violence and helping families move out of poverty, NOW LDEF attorneys Pamela Coukos and Martha Davis note.

"Study after study shows that battered women stay with their batterers because they lack the resources to support themselves and their children," said Coukos. "Rigid federal mandates and funding cutbacks in many program may have tragic consequences for vulnerable women and their families, who must choose between personal safety and economic support."

Among some of the startling findings in the January 1996 NOW LDEF report:

• One-quarter of battered women surveyed had lost a job at least partly due to the effects of domestic violence, and more than half had been harassed by their abuser at work.
• At least 50 percent of abused women lost three days of work a month due to medical problems resulting from abuse; domestic abuse translates into hundreds of thousands of lost days of work every year.
• When batterers harass women at work or school -- stalking, making harassing phone calls -- or when they prevent women from attending, it can result in low evaluations.
• Batterers may sabotage womens efforts at self-improvement, by keeping them up late before a final exam or failing to provide promised child care or transportation.
• More than half of battered women stayed with their batterers because they lacked resources to support themselves or their children.
• Recent surveys find large numbers -- in some places as many as 60 or 90 percent -- of welfare recipients are, or have been, victims of domestic violence as adults.
• An estimated 40 to 50 percent of women in homeless shelters are fleeing domestic violence, and 31 percent of women housed in New York battered women's shelters return to their abusers, primarily because they cannot locate long-term housing.