Perceptions About and Responses to Intimate Partner Violence in the Sinhalese Immigrant Community in Toronto

Abstract

Intimate partner violence is a serious human rights issue and a critical health problem for women worldwide. Many studies have advanced our knowledge about this issue, but few have focused on immigrant communities in Canada. This paper presents the findings of a recently completed qualitative interpretive descriptive study involving seven Sinhalese women and two service providers in Toronto, Canada. An intersectionality approach was used to explore their views about intimate partner violence in the Sinhalese community. Participants acknowledged various forms of intimate partner violence within their community and identified patriarchal expectations, post-migration changes in socio-economic status, and relationship problems as contributing factors. Participants noted that most women remained with their abusive husband as a result of various micro-level (e.g., children's future), meso-level (e.g., community pressure), and macro-level factors (e.g., limitations in Canadian health, social, and settlement services). A complex interaction between gender, race, and class relations in pre-and post-migration settings appear to make women vulnerable to intimate partner violence as well as shape their responses to it. Further research is needed to develop a more comprehensive understanding of this interaction.

Immigration Policies and Immigrant Women’s Vulnerability to Intimate Partner Violence in Canada

“…Many service providers and community workers highlighted that this policy gave disproportionate power to the men, allowed abusive male sponsors to exert control over women, and increased sponsored women's vulnerability to IPV (Bhuyan et al 2014; Canadian Network of Women's Shelters and Transition Houses 2013). Studies show that the IPV experienced by immigrant women, particularly from several traditionally patriarchal societies such as China, Portugal, India, and Sri Lanka, only began after their arrival in Canada (Barata et al 2005;Guruge et al 2010a, b;Guruge 2014;Hyman et al 2006Hyman et al , 2008MacLeod and Shin 1990;Tyyskä and Dinshaw 2009).…”

“…Poverty and downward social migration are linked to various negative health and social outcomes including, stress, alcohol and substance abuse, and alone and in combination with other risk factors, to IPV (Barata et al 2005;Guruge et al 2010a, b;Hyman et al 2006Hyman et al , 2008MacLeod and Shin 1990;Tyyskä and Dinshaw 2009). By conferring a temporary legal status, social exclusion, and economic precariousness on some groups, immigration policies not only reinforce the gender-inequitable conditions faced by many immigrant women premigration, but also make them even more dependent and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse post-migration in Canada (Bhuyan 2012;Bhuyan et al 2013;2014).…”

“…In addition to the gender, race, and class-based barriers to accessing health and social services, immigrant women are further constrained because their rights and entitlements are tied to their immigration status and the sponsors' status in Canada (Bernhard et al 2009;Hyman et al 2009). Fears of loss of status and deportation and loss of custody of the children are some of the barriers to care seeking reported by immigrant women who experience IPV (Guruge 2014;Hyman et al 2009). In addition to availability and accessibility of health, social, and welfare services, a sense of stability and income security that enables one to live independently and support themselves are important, yet often challenging conditions that prevent immigrant and newcomer women from seeking IPV-related services in Canada (Alaggia et al 2009;Bhuyan 2012;Bhuyan et al 2014;George and Rashidi 2011;Guruge and Humphreys 2009;Hyman et al 2009).…”

New lives, new challenges: access to intimate partner violence services for portuguese-speaking immigrant women

“…No nível social, esses determinantes sociais da saúde poderiam ser melhorados por meio de estratégias de ação abrangentes e prospectivas (7) . Especificamente, é necessária a colaboração intersetorial para criar ambientes de suporte para aumentar a disponibilidade de serviços para mulheres de minorias linguísticas que sofrem de VPI.…”

“…As barreiras incluem preocupações com o status de imigração, racismo e discriminação, falta de informações sobre os serviços de saúde, sociais e jurídicos disponíveis, além da falta de respostas linguisticamente adequadas e recursos culturalmente responsivos (4)(5)(6) . Algumas pesquisas exploraram a VPI dentro de grupos étnicos específicos no Canadá (7)(8)(9)(10) .…”