Interventions in domestic violence in the last 25 years have been premised on the idea that violence against women is something that can happen to any woman in a patriarchal culture, a reflection of the norms of a sexist society (Raphael, 2002). However, these interventions have failed to account for the overrepresentation of abuse in poor communities (Meier, 1997). In this article, the author (a) reviews the research literature on domestic violence, women's poverty and the intersection of domestic violence and poverty, (b) concludes that current interventions fail to address both poverty and violence, and (c) proposes a subsection for the TANF reauthorization policy that would provide a community development component to include opportunities for low-income women to pursue higher education, vocational training, and nontraditional employment safely.

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