Knowledge of Learning and Educational Practices

Domestic Violence within Immigrant Families

Introduction

According to “With No Place to Turn: Improving Advocacy for Battered Immigrant Women” by Orloff (1995), “Immigrant women often suffer higher rates of battering than U.S. citizens because they may come from cultures that accept domestic violence or because they have less access to legal and social services than U.S. citizens. Additionally, immigrant batterers and victims may believe that the penalties and protections of the U.S. legal system do not apply to them”. Immigrant women not only have to face personal life adaptation problems such as language, living habits, and social support but also face particularly serious power asymmetry and patriarchal oppression in the marriage and family relations from citizenship, health care, education, and employment to social discrimination. Immigrant women face more risk of social exclusion than women in general. Due to their immigration status and lack of resources and support, they feel trapped in an abusive relationship and find it difficult to escape. A systemic failure that has persisted for generations, a systemic persistence, and these problems have always been there. Many immigrant women may face cross-harassment because of their intersection identity as both people of color and female. To some extent, women may be less likely to report being bullied or harassed because of their gender and cultural background. There are many barriers including cultural, legal, and language barriers that immigrant women face when they move into new countries in the west like the United States that may prohibit them from seeking help. In this paper, we focus our attention on Intimate partner violence (IPV) and how these women are often in disadvantaged positions in a relationship, and how their cultural norms, religion, belief system, and knowledge of the legal system in the country they move to may prohibit them from seeking help to get out of an abusive relationship. This in essence is a gender issue or gender-based violence and immigrant women may not be aware of the resources that are available to them when they move into western countries. Through this justice project, we seek to provide them with resources by actively going out into our communities to give light to this issue and provide them with contact to organizations that fight for women’s equality. In this paper, we will include the experiences of immigrant women who have been a victim of domestic violence and how they have dealt with it, as well as how the justice project supports the immigrant families in this situation.

Main problem

Battering is a form of domestic or intimate partner violence and within that, we see many tactics used by an individual to intentionally control or dominate his intimate partner. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) used a power wheel to describe how these tactics are connected to the words “power” and “control” which are central to the wheel. Men can use emotional abuse, economic abuse, male privilege, children, isolation, and intimidation to have control over the women. While we talk about domestic violence, it is important to note that domestic violence does not only happen to women, but it can also happen to men, but in this specific instance we are focused on men using their power and control to beat up women. Having said this, we want to address some of the main cultural, legal, and language barriers that can impact women's ability to seek help when they migrate to or reside in a new country. These barriers are the main problems that women have to face when living in a new country with its cultural norms and laws.

Cultural barriers

First of all, different cultures have different perceptions of and experiences with IPV among immigrant women. In a study done with Tamil immigrant women living in Toronto, they “defined IPV [intimate partner violence] broadly and recognized it as rooted in power and control” (Mason, 2008 as mentioned by Okeke-ihejirka, Yhohani, Muster, Ndem, Chambers & Pow). In a study done with Portuguese women, however, they “expanded this definition by characterizing as IPV some behaviors that are not typically perceived or reported as abusive, such as viewing women as second-class citizens, expecting women to obey male partners and male authorities in their lives, and leaving the burden of household tasks to women” (Barata, McNally, Sales and Stewart 2005, as mentioned by Okeke-ihejirka, Yhohani, Muster, Ndem, Chambers & Pow, 801). As we can see through these different ways women from different countries perceive IPV, we could also see the complex realities they live as immigrant women experiencing Intimate partner violence in other countries. These differences play a huge role in the way they cope or deal with IPV in a new country. For example, Tamil Immigrant women “Blamed themselves, relied on faith or religious beliefs, distracted themselves from dwelling on the abuse, normalized the abuse, and/or avoided certain situations or conditions that could lead to abuse” (Okeke-ihejirka, Yhohani, Muster, Ndem, Chambers & Pow, 801).

As both of us are immigrants from Asian countries, we have friends and even family members, where the women in the relationship had abusive encounters with their partners many times, but still, they were committed to their partner due to religious reasons and family stability. “Fear of being stigmatized by the community, holding onto patriarchal beliefs, blaming oneself for not being able to preserve family integrity, believing that children should grow up with two parents, and believing that marriage is a lifelong commitment are some of the sociocultural aspects that hinder immigrant women across different cultures from leaving their abusive spouses or from accessing formal support services” (Okeke-ihejirka, Yhohani, Muster, Ndem, Chambers & Pow, 802). Through this, we can see how immigrant women across different parts of the world perceive and cope with IPV and we can also see that in some cultures, women are committed to their partners due to the aspects of culture and family, even though they are in abusive relationships. “To effectively help immigrant women who have histories of abuse, policies, and services need to value immigrant women’s diverse and creative responses” (Okeke-ihejirka, Yhohani, Muster, Ndem, Chambers & Pow, 802). This is an important point because the service that we provide to women who have been a victim or who are currently in an abusive relationship, needs to acknowledge the cultural dynamics and differences that are at play, for the services to be beneficial to immigrant women.

Legal and Language Barriers

Immigrant women who have been in an abusive relationship oftentimes do not seek legal assistance because they fear the legal system. “Immigrant women are hesitant to disclose their experience of abuse to persons unknown to them and rarely contact agencies or the police in a crisis, especially when they are aware of mandatory charging” (Singh 2010, as mentioned by Okeke-ihejirka, Yhohani, Muster, Ndem, Chambers & Pow). As we mentioned, knowing the cultural backgrounds and the beliefs and perceptions of IPV is different for many immigrant women and so limited knowledge of these issues can lead to inadequate or even inappropriate services. “For example, in providing care and support to survivors of IPV, healthcare professionals and social workers consider divorce or separation a valid solution that ensures the survivors' safety. Getting a divorce or separating, however, does not necessarily align with immigrant women’s needs or realities” (Okeke-ihejirka, Yhohani, Muster, Ndem, Chambers & Pow, 803). This connects to the legal services should offer support and how to help victims of abuse rather than impose a decision or solutions for them that would make the situation further problematic. With regards to law enforcement, undocumented immigrants believe that they would be denied access to legal services or that they may not be treated fairly due to discriminatory and racist practices. When it comes to immigrant women's experiences with IPV, there are many reasons why they would not seek help. When it comes to providing help whether it is through community events or organizations, they must acknowledge the differences in cultures and provide resources that would benefit them according to their unique situation because everyone's experiences and beliefs are different. It is also important for victims of domestic violence to make decisions in their life. “Service providers should support survivors by empowering them in their decision-making process rather than imposing solutions that do not meet the survivors’ needs” (Souto, Guruge, Merighi, & de Jesus 2016 as mentioned by Okeke-ihejirka, Yhohani, Muster, Ndem, Chambers & Pow, 803). This is an important point because as organizations that fight against gender-based violence and IPV that they listen to the victims of abuse and provide appropriate resources and provide services to meet their needs.

Incommensurability

In understanding the critical points across justice projects and not judging the justice project by the same standard, we should understand the difference between our perspectives and work together on the inner angles of theories of change. In the justice project on domestic violence and immigrant families, we need to understand different structures and power to address the issues to support the victims. Besides mentioning patriarchy, police power and law enforcement are among the main things we have to take concerned about and understand in impacting immigrant women's resistance to ask for help since they are afraid of deportation and losing their chances to stay in the U.S. Police brutality and racial profiling and bias that is also related to the project, people of color have hesitation to call the police for help due to law enforcement having violent incidents against many minorities group. When the police embrace the mission to protect and serve but the long history of aggression toward people of color has created mistrust of police which further endanger the minority communities.

Agency and Public Pedagogies in the Justice Project

According to “Coordinated Community Approaches to Domestic Violence” by Barbara Hart, “Over the last twenty years, communities across the country have identified domestic violence as a social problem of significant proportions and, in myriad ways, have initiated strategies to stop the violence and protect battered women and children”. In our justice project, we aim to raise awareness of the issues and provide assistance programs to achieve safety and protection for victims of domestic violence. By sharing the poster and the information about domestic violence as well as the rights of immigrants, it can help those who face domestic violence. Self-awareness is vital to protect themselves, understand the red flag of the relationship, and leave the abuser. “One unanticipated outcome of increased intervention by the justice system was a sharp increase in demand for individual advocacy and supportive services of domestic violence programs” (Hart, 2). Individual advocacy to support someone who needs help so that we can be an advocate for ourselves and others that our agency in this project is to be our own agency. To be an agency in the social justice project, there are many things we can do to involve awareness and share the information of the local organizations about the needs of people regarding domestic violence. We also advocate on behalf of the community through social media to help address gender equality and post information to share with immigrant families about their rights and resources to support them. “Domestic violence programs are significantly underfunded in most communities, such that as many as one in five battered women are not able to access essential services” (Hart, 2). Being our agency, “one teaches one” to help ourselves to understand the issue and most important to support others who have similar experiences to end the problem. Educate one to strive to improve their quality, enhance legal awareness and promote the spirit of “self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-love”.

Conclusion

Immigrant women tend to have higher rates of domestic violence and sexual assault than U.S. citizens, and they often face additional barriers to accessing support services. They are not only having to face personal life adaptation problems, but also the root problem of the society with patriarchal oppression and family relations. Cultural and language barriers are also the main factors that the different perceptions and recognitions of power and control between men and women in their cultural and rooted history may affect the victim’s decision on reporting the abusive incidents. They are not only having to face personal life adaptation problems, but also the root problem of the society with patriarchal oppression and family relations. Due to the lack of resources and support, immigrant women often don’t fully understand their rights and the protection of the U.S. legal system. The fear of deportation and law enforcement due to the long history of aggression towards people of color has also created frustration when immigrant women are trying to ask for help. Therefore, in our social justice project, we aim to raise awareness of the issue and provide them the information about the rights of an immigrant to become their agency and self-advocate. According to “Coordinated Community Approaches to Domestic Violence”, “…community education and media initiatives to transform public understanding and response to domestic violence” (p.4). “One teaches one” is our goal to address the problem of domestic violence to support themselves and others, their families, and friends who have a similar situation to stand and protect themselves.

Work Cited

Hart, B. J. (1995). Coordinated Community Approaches to Domestic Violence. Retrieved May 31, 2022 from https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Coordinated_Community_Approaches_to_DV.pd

Okeke-ihejirika, Yohani, s., Muster, J., Ndem, A., Chambers, T., & Pow, V. (2020). A scoping review of Intimate Partner Violence in Canada’s Immigrant Communities. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 21(4), 788-810. http://doi/org/10/1177/1524838018789156

Power and control. The Hotline. (2021, November 29). Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://www.thehotline.org/identify-abuse/power-and-control/

White, & Satyen, L. (2015). Cross-cultural differences in intimate partner violence and depression: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 24, 120-130. https://doi/org/10/1016/j.avb.2015.05.005

Orloff, Jang, D., & Klein, C. F. (1995). With No Place to Turn: Improving Legal Advocacy for Battered Immigrant Women. Family Law Quarterly, 29(2), 313–329.