Press Room
A Latent Bomb in the Society: Ethnic Minority Women Experiencing Domestic Violence
13 February 2007
The unique social situations and needs of Ethnic Minority (EM) women have always been neglected by policy makers and the public. From a research conducted by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong Christian Service Project SASA (South Asians Support Alliance) on exploring and understanding the social situations of the EM women in Hong Kong, it was found that many of them chose to tolerate and not seeking external help when they face domestic violence. Many EM women hesitate to share the problems with others outside the family like social workers. Without effective help from professionals, the problems of family violence can be getting worse and finally explode.
From this research, there was an alarming number of respondents identified that they have experienced family violence. Of the 182 respondents, 38.1% of them expressed knowing someone who had experienced family violence. When asked about who were the victims of the family violence, nearly half of them disclosed it was themselves.
There were 30 (16.4%) out of a total 182 respondents reported that they had experienced family violence personally. They also revealed that another 24.1% of family violence victims were their friends and neighbors.
Sabu, a Nepalese single mother stated that “ my ex-husband threatened me of killing me and all my family members as well as our only son if I divorced with him. He attempted to punch me twice but stopped by my relatives.”
When encountered with family violence, the respondents reported that they (or their friends and neighbors) would tell their parents (44.4%), other family members (44.4%) and friends (34.9%) only. It seems that a significant number (27%) of them chose to tolerate than to talk to social workers (17.5%), religious leaders (7.9%) or call for police (6.3%).
The principal investigator of the research, Dr Ting Wai Fong of Polytechnic University said that family violence among the ethnic minority women is not uncommon. “The most worrying is that many of them chose to tolerate and not seeking external help. Many EM women hesitate to share the problems with others outside the family like social workers because: they do not know how to access the services; have no confidence and no experience to step outside; and feel insecure in disclosing personal lives to others; and language barrier,” Dr Ting said.
Sana, a Pakistani lady mentioned that “my ex-husband used to bit me for almost three years, but I tended to tolerate because of strong objection from my family. Even I finally divorced due to my ex-husband’s aggression to my sons, my mother hadn’t communicate with me for two years, I even hesitated of going back to my own village in Pakistan because of gossips in the neighborhood. Some of the Pakistani wives rejected me from their homes as they rumored that a divorced woman might tempt their husbands.” Many of the EM women do not want to leave the abusive husband also because they are afraid of the difficulties in maintaining their daily lives without the financial support of their husband. Moreover, they do not know how to tell their children.
Furthermore, the research also revealed that how the policemen’s careless attitude and ways of handling reports of family violence had shattered their confidence and trust of reporting. For example, a member of the focus group who had experienced family violence and reported to the police but was told to “just go home and talk to your husband, he will not do it again because you are his wife.”
“Language barrier being the major difficulty that the EM women encounter in every aspects of life, limits their access to services that will alleviate their problems. It also prevents them seeking help when experiencing family violence,” Ms Karrie Chan, Project Leader of Project SASA of Hong Kong Christian Service said. “They just can not express the unique experience in another language even if they had the courage to disclose. Thus interpretation service is needed to facilitate these victims of family violence to step out to help themselves,” Ms Chan said.
Personal exposure is also important to open up themselves for more alternatives rather than toleration. Sana shared her experiences of enlighten one EM lady to be confident and stepped away from sorrow of divorcing with the aggressive husband and said that “I tried to encourage her to open up her mind for learning more knowledge and seeking help from social workers and now I am glad to see that she’s confident to live a life together with her children.”
Hence, the research team recommended that:
- The Government should provide convenient interpretation hotline and escort support services in ethnic minority languages. With these provisions, EM women will be more likely to get the necessary social services and seek help from professionals in tackling their family problems.
- Besides, one-stop information stations in different districts, which provide all kinds of essential public and social services information in ethnic minority languages, should be set up. It can make referrals to related departments and social services agencies easier so as to minimize troubles in locating different services.
- In protecting their basic rights of access to social services, the law should protect EM women and people to get social service information in a language that they understand.
- The cultural sensitivity and skills of police and social service providers in handling domestic violence of EM should be enhanced so that EM women can receive timely, effective help and services that they need.
- Greater support to EM women in continued education programs so that they can be empowered and open up themselves to more alternatives in tackling their family problems.
Media Enquires
- Miss Karrie Chan
Project Leader
Project SASA (South Asians Support Alliance)
Hong Kong Christian Service
Tel: 3188-2525 or 2342-6156 - Ms Cindy HO
Information Officer
Hong Kong Christian Service
Tel: 2731-6263