Editorial: Rahm Emanuel says men must take responsibility for ending domestic violence

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune on Nov 6, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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Rahm Emanuel was our mayor. He was the U.S. ambassador to Japan. He’s a possible presidential candidate. He’s also an advocate against domestic violence.

Emanuel has co-founded the WINGS Men’s Alliance to End Domestic Violence alongside attorney John Sciaccotta, and the group’s mission is to mobilize men as allies, advocates and leaders to help end domestic violence by promoting accountability, compassion and respect in all relationships. “It’s time for every brother, son, uncle, and father to take responsibility for ending violence in our homes and communities,” Emanuel posted on X last Friday.

We applaud this initiative, which welcomes men into a conversation that focuses primarily on female victims. In doing so, Emanuel acknowledges that addressing domestic violence will take whole families. That requires buy-in from men.

“This is not a women’s issue. This is a family issue,” Emanuel said while speaking last Thursday at the Union League Club of Chicago during a domestic violence summit hosted by the WINGS Program and the Chicago Bar Association. “Whether you’re a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle, you do not get to take a pass. You do not get to look the other way.”

Katie Dunne from the nonprofit Chicago77 group, a force behind the Chicago and Cook County’s forthcoming joint task force on violence against women, told us “allyship to this cause, especially from an effective and formidable advocate, is exactly what the domestic violence sector urgently needs during these turbulent times.”

Some may write off the move as clever politics — and who could disagree — but Emanuel’s actual record suggests more than expediency here. In 1994, he worked on the Violence Against Women Act alongside then-Sen. Joe Biden, and as mayor in 2016, he partnered with WINGS to open a 40-bed shelter for victims.

Where nonprofits and local governments can partner to provide shelter and protection, this new focus on addressing the culture is a key element in addressing the root causes that drive violence in the home.

We agree that focusing on men — especially those who perpetrate violence — and investing in genuine prevention efforts is essential if we ever hope to break the cycle.

Illinois’ per-capita rate of deaths caused by a spouse or intimate partner — 0.49% — exceeded the combined rate in New York and California, according to the National Violent Death Reporting System.

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s office reports that domestic battery is their No. 1 charge in which they request detention, yet it is granted in only 50% of cases.

Emanuel’s return to this cause reminds us that accountability starts not in the courtroom, but at home — and that real change will require men willing to take part.

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