The project uses journalism to investigate and bring to light these issues which impact women throughout the world, but especially in areas of conflict.
The director of Women Under Siege, Lauren Wolfe, has said that the first step to challenging rape is to stop victim blaming and to focus on the perpetrators and the cultures that produce them.
[6] Additionally, many women decide against accusing their attackers because of the legal process, shame, fear, stigma, or worry they will be disbelieved.
[10] The idea was inspired by two books: Sexual Violence Against Jewish Women During the Holocaust by Sonja M. Hedgepeth and Rochelle Saidel[11] and At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape and Resistance - a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to Black Power by Danielle McGuire.
"[13] Rape and gender-based violence being used as tools of conflict and war can't be addressed if the issues are not documented or discussed.
[14] Women Under Siege's website includes blogs about current violent activity and also first-person accounts from those who have experienced violence.
[7] Entries are not always about current events; Jamia Wilson wrote an article for the website about women and sexual violence during civil rights protests.
[6] Other projects include using data from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) to address the issue of rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
In 2012, Women Under Siege put out a call to people from Syria and those working with Syrian refugees to provide information about rape and sexual assault.