In 2024, the Indiana General Assembly cut $2.5 million from domestic violence prevention and support programs, despite rising need and overwhelming evidence that survivors in our state are already slipping through the cracks.
Just months later, headlines began surfacing from inside city government alleging sexual harassment and systemic silence. Though investigations concluded that procedures were followed, the larger truth remains: too many women in Indiana — regardless of party, background or profession — don’t feel safe at work, at home or in public.
This isn’t political. It’s personal. It’s structural. And it’s deeply urgent.
We are not safe — and the data proves it
In Indiana, 1 in 3 women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.
In the months following Indiana’s near-total abortion ban, crisis call centers and domestic violence shelters saw noticeable increases in call volume, particularly from women reporting abuse tied to reproductive coercion. Simultaneously, access to care and legal protections became harder to navigate, especially for rural women, LGBTQ+ survivors and women of color.
And while the headlines coming out of the City-County Building are jarring, they reflect what countless women already know:the systems meant to protect us often don’t. Sexual harassment policies that sit on shelves. Reporting structures that prioritize liability over justice. Workplaces where whispered warnings replace institutional safeguards.
We hear from women across Indiana — public servants, teachers, service workers, executives — who quietly share what they’ve endured just to earn a paycheck or participate in civic life. They’ve learned to scan the parking lot before walking alone, to change their routes home, to carry keys like weapons, to keep quiet about what happened … because they fear they won’t be believed, or worse, they’ll be blamed.
This isn’t about culture — it’s about control
The louder message behind all of this — the rollback of legal protections, the underfunding of crisis services, the rise in public misogyny — is clear:there is a movement to reduce women’s autonomy in all arenas of life.
We see it in laws that restrict our reproductive choices. We see it in the chilling rise of domestic violence incidents. We see it in the way some are trying to push women out of public leadership and back into the shadows.
There’s a cultural undercurrent right now that tells women to smile, stay quiet, and be grateful. But let’s be clear: this is not about family values. It’s about power. And it puts women’s lives at risk.
Indiana needs to choose a different path
Women are the backbone of Indiana’s economy and our communities. We make up nearly half of Indiana’s workforce, lead households, care for aging parents and volunteer at higher rates than men. We are founders, first responders, educators and faith leaders. We drive economic growth and fuel civic life — and yet, we’re fighting for the most basic thing: safety.
It is unacceptable that in 2025, we still have to organize webinars to remind lawmakers and community leaders that women deserve to exist without fear. But that’s precisely what Women4Change Indiana will be doing this August — because silence is complicity.
We must demand more. This means restoring and expanding funding for domestic violence prevention and support for survivors. That means holding public and private institutions accountable when women speak out against them. That means creating laws that honor our agency, not strip it away.
And most of all, it means refusing to accept the status quo.
Because no woman — no matter where she lives, how she votes or what job she holds — should have to shrink herself just to survive.
Angie Carr Klitzsch is the CEO of Women4Change Indiana, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Hoosiers to engage in democracy and advocating for equitable outcomes for women and girls in Indiana.
