WOMEN OF ethnic minority backgrounds are more vulnerable to gender-based violence than the general female population, a new report from the Women’s Health Council has found.
The study comprised 26 interviews, and three national surveys of service providers including GPs and other health and social services, support groups and minority organisations.
Physical violence by an intimate partner was identified as the most common form of violence, followed closely by sexual violence by an intimate partner and emotional abuse.
Non-indigenous interviewees experienced social isolation on moving to Ireland, as family and friends were left behind. For some, this loss negated any positive impact of improved legal protection from violence in Ireland:
“When you are home, you talk about Europe, and laws, the way laws are about women and children, those kinds of things. You think someone will change and be afraid of the law. But you now find that things are even getting worse, in a foreign land. No auntie, no sister,” said one woman, Kagiso.
Interviewees described how many aspects of their migrant status were exploited by the perpetrator to enforce this isolation. Opportunities to form friendships and maintain existing friendships and family supports were strictly curtailed.
One interviewee described how, in an attempt to isolate her, her abusive partner – who was ‘white Irish’ – portrayed Ireland as a highly racist society, where relevant services were only provided to the majority ethnic population.
