Barriers Faced by Pakistani Women in Seeking Help for Domestic Violence

Paper 1

Culture of Disbelief

Clearly, disbelief and reluctance from immigration officials appear to be among the barriers and challenges identified to be facing Pakistani women whenever they seek solutions to problems of domestic violence. These findings corroborate with the literature by Nadia Siddiqui et al (2008) who highlighted the plight of Pakistani women in the UK facing domestic violence; and how immigration officers disbelieve such women whenever they seek help from the immigration department. Particularly, Nadia Siddiqui et al (2008) observes that Home Office officials often disbelieve Pakistani women who seek their help, a phenomenon that contributes to the difficulty in evidencing their reason for seeking help. While such evidence may need to be presented in objective or subjective material, Nadia Siddiqui et al (2008) found that Pakistani women may not be able to present such kinds of evidence, and even if they are presented them, they may not be as compelling as required to convince the Home Office officials. The issue disbelief has also been identified to be an impediment of justice to women facing domestic violence even in the context of internal flights and relocations. According to Nadia Siddiqui et al (2008), Pakistani women in the UK face the challenge of disbelief whenever they attempt to internally relocate because in most cases, the officials question the credibility of their evidence.

Paper 2

Immigration Status and Access to Justice

The theme of immigration status a barrier to women’s quest for a solution for domestic violence has been highlighted by several other scholars. For instance, a recent study by Graca (2017) has highlighted that women face barriers to reporting experiences of domestic violence - barriers are often created by policies regulating their immigration statuses. In some cases, according to Graca (2017), women would not seek redress or report cases of domestic violence because they fear their immigration status may lead to their deportation. In further details, Graca (2017) point out that this scenario may be more complicated for Pakistani women who, because they originate from a non-European Union country, require an ILR permit to stay in the UK. Consequently, Pakistani women feel extremely vulnerable to report any cases of domestic violence to the Home Office because they are likely to be deported if they lack the ILR permit. Whereas the UK immigration law recognizes the extreme vulnerability of individuals who come to the UK on a partner or spouse status; and grants them permission to apply for ILR even after overstaying their visa, the application can only be successful if they have proof of evidence that the relationship broke down as a result of domestic abuse during the probationary period (Graca 2017). Besides, according to Graca (2017), the applicants must produce evidence of proof (e.g. tenancy agreements, water bills or rent) that individual was in a genuine relationship during the probationary period. Yet, as highlighted earlier, the culture of disbelief always impedes the applicability of such pieces of evidence. Hence, as indeed pointed out in the current study, the immigrant status, compounded by the convoluted nature of proof of this status, prevents immigrant women from accessing justice or reporting cases of domestic violence in fear that the axe of deportation may fall on them

Paper 3

Family Relationships

The findings on paper 3 corroborate with existing literature by Paula et al (2005) and Graca (2017) who discussed family relationships and how it prevents women from reporting cases of domestic violence. Paula et al (2005) observe that the nature of relationships between women and their family members may have a significant influence on whether they report or seek help when they face domestic violence. The authors go ahead to note that women in some cultures (e.g. Chinese, Portuguese, Korean and Latina living in foreign countries) are socialized to protect the interest of their close family members even if it means disregarding their own interest – a phenomenon termed as ‘familism’. Consequently, women in such cultures prefer seeking the help of their family members instead of seeking it from relevant authorities or from other third parties. But, according to Graca (2017), this behaviour may help women escape domestic violence if the family supports actions against the abuser, or hinder the women’s attempt to escape domestic violence if the family does not support action against the abuser. Paula et al (2005) add that when women from such cultures put their family’s interest ahead of their own, they prefer enduring the violence against them so as not to break the family ties, a phenomenon that is attributable to such families encouraging their women to support their husbands despite their violent behaviours. This, perhaps, confirms the results in the current study findings that Portuguese women tend to avoid reporting experiences of domestic violence for fear that their husbands might be arrested and by effect, affect their stay in the UK.

Paper 4

Economic Dependence

The issue of fear of reporting domestic violence experiences, due to high dependence on spouses especially; in the case of women depending on British citizens for their citizens, corroborates with the literature by Maharaj (2014) highlighting on the same issue, albeit in a Canadian context. Basically, Maharaj (2014) observes that immigrant women in Canada facing domestic violence fail to access or report such cases to due to the high-level of economic dependence they have on their Canadian husbands. According to the author, whereas domestic violence has been on the rise in Canada, there has been a reduction in reported cases, a phenomenon attributable to fear of deportation, as well as fear of loss of their husbands to prison, husbands who are basically their breadwinners. Whereas Maharaj (2014) makes these observations within the Canadian context, these findings support the findings by the current study that fear of losing the people they depend on economically sometimes acts as a barrier to, or influences women’s decision to report domestic violence against them.

References

• Graca S. (2017) Domestic violence policy and legislation in the UK: a discussion of immigrant women's vulnerabilities, European Journal of Current Legal Issues, Vol 23, No 1 (2017)
• Maharaj S. (2014) Domestic violence among immigrant women a growing concern, Digital Broadcast Journalist Global News. Retrieved on 2nd March 2019 from: https://globalnews.ca/news/1437599/domestic-violence-among-immigrant-women-a-growing-concern/
• Paula Barata et al., 'Portuguese Immigrant Women's Perspectives on Wife Abuse: A Cross-Generational Comparison' (2005) 20 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 1132, 113.
• Siddiqui, N., Sajida, I., & Allen, M. (2008). Safe to return?: Pakistani women, domestic violence and access to refugee protection. A report of a trans-national research project conducted in the UK and Pakistan South Manchester Law Centre in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.