Our History 

Our organization was founded in 1998 when a group of Hmong women leaders from around the Twin Cities Metropolitan area gathered at a retreat to talk about issues affecting Hmong women and girls.  From there, a group of core members formed to implement the mission of preventing violence against Hmong women and girls by ending sexism in the community. 

HWAT has always strived to mobilize Hmong women and girls to actively engage and participate in their families and communities to elevate the status of Hmong women and to shape their own lives. HWAT does not work directly with individuals, but selects projects that cast a wide net towards the community to change in ways that will be more inclusive of Hmong women at the decision making tables, and to inform others about the plight of Hmong women and improve opportunites for their voices to be sought out, heard, and their issues, championed.

Using a Change Framework

In the community action planning process that led to the development of HWAT over nine years ago, the following were identified as factors that contribute to sexism and subsequent violence against women and girls in the Hmong community:

1. Treating sons and daughters differently;
2. Not valuing educated wives and women and their contributions;
3. Valuing marriage above physical and emotional safety in an abusive relationship;
4. Valuing many children above the reproductive health or rights of women;
5. Believing that males are born with more power than females, and;
6. Supporting marriage structures that set the stage for violence

These root causes are addressed with various projects that have changed from year to year.

Our Guiding Principles and Values

HWAT adheres to guiding principles and values when working with individuals and communities. These guiding principles are:

• Sexism leads to violence against women;
• It is OK for Hmong women to focus on Hmong women;
• Collective action focused on systemic changes is required to raise the status of women and must be led by women;
• Strong Hmong women contribute to the growth and health of families and community –the strengthening of one does not disempower the other;
• We recognize that a byproduct of change is fear and conflict. We are here because we are committed to building the capacity of and improving the lives of Hmong families by increasing the status and value of Hmong women; and
• Making social changes at the systems level requires organizing and mobilizing of individuals to take action.