5x as many South Asian Women face Physical Abuse than those who don’t
Domestic violence is a common occurrence affecting people of various ages everyday. There are distinct forms of abuse that are misunderstood especially in the South Asian community, and several of these are culturally informed such as honor killings and dowry which have not been outlawed yet. In India for example, wives have the highest suicide rate due to domestic violence from these form of acts. There are several atmospheres that lead to domestic abuse: divorce, patriarchy, household rules, honor, and etc. The problem is that these forms of abuse that occur in this community are considered “normal” and are barely mentioned in these circumstances.
In a study, only 3% of South Asian Women who are victims of Domestic Violence secured a restraining order against their abuser.
Domestic violence is a form of abuse that occurs in one’s household, concerning relations between a spouse, family member/relative, friend or living partner/roommate or cohabitant. Abusers exert control from these relationships leaving the survivors/victims at risk of their lives and livelihood. This includes a huge spectrum of behaviors which include physical (hitting, biting, etc), sexual (forcing sexual behavior without consent), emotional (enhancing feelings of worthlessness via constant criticism, interfering with other relationships, etc), and economic (maintaining financial dependence of victim to their abuser).
Signs of physical abuse include black eyes, bruises on arms, busted lips, neck marks, and etc. Some signs of emotional abuse include:
- Changes in sleep habits
- Becoming extremely apologetic/meek
- Low self esteem, being fearful, etc.
Signs from the abuser include control behavior even in public settings, speaking constantly over the one who is abused, jealousy, not giving access/permission to anything for the abused, having extreme alcohol/drug addiction, and etc.
According to a study from API GBV, an organization on gender based violence, a sample of South Asian women reported that 6% of respondents experience emotional abuse by their in-laws, with 5 times as many women also facing violence directly from their partner than those who do not. In this same exact study, the data revealed that eleven percent of the victims of intimate-partner violence received counseling services, and only 3% secured a restraining order against their abuser.
In regards to sexual domestic violence, marital rape is extremely common in households. In an article from the Harvard Human Rights Journal, an organization discussing about domestic violence and human rights, India is one of the 36 countries that have not criminalized marital rape. This is why abuse is more established and “easier” since government rulings have not banned such acts yet.
The structure of the wives leaving to stay with the husband’s family makes it easier for the abuse to occur since the culture does not take the women back or to portray the women as the part of the other family.
Seeking help is a common way of raising awareness about an abused person’s situation. A website called “Inquiries” which is an academic journal discussing social sciences, arts, and humanities, portrayed South Asian women accessing help from domestic violence services and revealed that while South Asian women are more likely to seek help from family than Hispanic or African American women, they are also more likely to be advised to “stay in the marriage”.
The structure of the wives leaving to stay with the husband’s family makes it easier for the abuse to occur since the culture does not take the women back or to portray the women as the part of the other family. Children also get married at very young ages, especially women, and abuse especially occurs starting from that young age. The way that women become “married off” is a huge influence for families to allow their daughters to become abused and not have to worry about it. This abuse can be impactful on health. Women are more likely to suffer miscarriages and stress related problems which can be harmful to the women’s body if not taken care of, which unfortunately in most situations it is not.
The forms of abuse can be seen earlier from their childhood. For example, a piece demonstrated that a higher percentage of South Asians faced some sort of abuse from their childhood than any other Asian minorities. An article from Elsevier, a journal website that discusses worldly issues, states that childhood development can be affected from domestic violence by having higher chances of depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and PTSD. They are also most likely to have developmental decays as well as have mental health issues at a young age.
There are several reasons as to why South Asians are extremely vulnerable to domestic violence.
- Culture. In the South Asian community, gender norms are significant in the household as men hold the dominant role in the position whereas women are told to be submissive. Patriarchal structures are ingrained in the cultural norms which have stemmed back in the older times where the males are considered to have privileged access to females to perform any sort of action (which includes abuse) they desire. The fact that men are considered at a higher regard, women are looked down upon especially since they have lower education rates and high female infanticide which places women as less respected than men and even inferior. The Tribune, an affiliated newspaper in Pakistan stated that men do not usually have the role of taking care of children, cleaning the house, serving meals and cooking and expect the wife to fulfill all of those duties or else she may have to suffer some.
- Model Minority Myth. “The Model Minority Myth” explains how South Asians are the most successful at education and relationships. But, women are expected to “blend in” or fit the proper expectations in order to maintain a proper reputation which can cause them who are undergoing domestic violence to be silenced instead of seeking help. This is why several countries outside of South Asia believe that divorce rates are lower and have good experience with relationships, but the real case is that divorce is considered taboo in the South Asian community and causes women to stay in unhealthy relationships.
In India and Pakistan, domestic violence victims found that 32% of women from these communities had difficulties regarding the criminal justice system due to fear of tarnishing their reputation, while 28% percent were fearful of the consequences of taking action including their own safety. Abuse is more applicable in these households due to institutional hurdles including language barriers, social isolation/lack of support network, and legal/financial dependency on their spouses which can make it difficult to recognize the signs of domestic violence and seek help. Negative perceptions of the criminal justice system and the lack of knowledge prevented 25% percent of South Asians to receive help.
The entertainment industry is also influential to normalized abuse in the South Asian communities. In a journal from Asia-Pacific Pop Culture, Bollywood movies such as “Kabir Singh” and “Tere Naam” demonstrate toxic masculinity and male angst as well as portraying the male characters as heroes even while abusing the female characters and demonstrating alcoholism as “heroic behavior”.
One non-profit organization called Narika in particular noticed these severe effects of South Asian women in the United States and wanted to do something about it. A group of women in 1992 established this domestic violence advocacy group in the Bay area to help women undergoing domestic violence living in that region. Narika treats domestic violence victims as sisters instead of clients and provides a vast amount of resources to these women and has made an impact on several of these women’s lives.
As the pandemic hit, the rise in domestic violence cases increased, and the action to seek help decreased. NBC news stated that from several Asian American organizations, clients who have previously reported of their partners abusing them now say to not call them due to their partners staying at home due to the lockdown. Several partners took away their phones, credit cards, cars, and etc, making it harder for those abused to call for help. Data from the National Commision for Women, the salutary body of government for Indian advocating for women’s rights, stated that domestic violence in India increased by 40%.
As awareness has been increasing, cases have still not had a significant decrease. There must be more provided attention to break the stigma against the “normalized abuse” in South Asian communities in order to lessen the cases of domestic violence. Domestic violence has been an issue for such a long time since it is so normalized in the South Asian community. Several women become impacted by it daily and even die from the extreme abuse. It is a health issue as well as a human rights issue which needs justice and people to speak up more about it.
The more normalized it is, the more susceptible women are to it, and this causes men to be uneducated about this serious topic, influences abortions, killings, starvation leading to higher cases of domestic violence in the South Asian communities.
Some websites/resources for domestic violence help:
National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence
References
What is the Definition of Domestic Violence?
Factsheet: Domestic and Sexual Violence in South Asian Communities
Why Are South Asian Immigrant Women Vulnerable to Domestic Violence?
Why domestic violence calls are surging for Asian American women amid the pandemic
Understanding Domestic Violence in India During COVID-19: a Routine Activity Approach
Withstanding patriarchy in South Asian family culture
The model minority myth says all Asians are successful. Why that’s dangerous.
Bollywood’s Angromance: Toxic Masculinity and Male Angst in Tere Naam and Kabir Singh on JSTOR
Mangai Natarajan. “Domestic violence among immigrants from India: What we need to know — and what we should do.” International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, vol. 26, no. 2, 2002, pp. 301–321, DOI: 10.1080/01924036.2002.9678693
Raj, Anita, and Jay G Silverman. “Immigrant South Asian women at greater risk for injury from intimate partner violence.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 93, no. 3, 2003, pp. 435–7.
Ruksana Ayyub, “Domestic Violence in the South Asian Muslim Immigrant Population in the United States.” Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, vol. 9, no. 3, 2000, pp. 237–248, DOI: 10.1023/A:1009412119016
