A stark choice

  • October 26, 2012

Immigrant women with insecure status who suffer domestic violence face a stark choice: staying with their abuser or living in destitution.

Women with uncertain immigration status who experience domestic violence face a a stark choice – living in destitution or being forced to stay with their abuser.

Their plight has been little studied, but it will be discussed at an event on Saturday as part of this year’s Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

The Violence Against Women: Preventions and Responses session will explore both the international and UK context of violence against women, from international frameworks on violence against women to sexual violence in the UK and ‘rape myths’.

Gates Cambridge Scholar Halliki Voolma will talk about her research on the vulnerable position of women with uncertain immigration status who are subjected to domestic violence. She says the extent of the problem has received little attention because it is not prioritised by the Government and because some of the women cannot access support due to restrictive immigration policies. She believes many are suffering in silence due to fear that coming forward would mean living in destitution.

She wants to see more awareness of the issue and greater efforts to let women know of the support available. Every individual and organisation she spoke to for her research mentioned the need for better communication about the support on offer. She says: “They all talk about the language barrier and the need for awareness raising or language training. These women are doubly vulnerable because of the violence they have suffered and their immigration status.”

Halliki [2011], who is doing a PhD in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies, came to the subject through an innovative community-based project set up by the University of Cambridge and Cambridge Women’s Aid, which now has a European dimension. She will also talk about her experience at UN Women in the summer at Saturday’s event and Norah Al-Ani from Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre will speak about sexual violence in the UK.

The session, which will be followed by a discussion, will be chaired by Dr Gemma Burgess from the Department of Land Economy.

Violence Against Women: Preventions and Responses takes place at the Lucia Windsor Room, Newnham College, on 27 October, 12noon-1.15pm. Prebook at www.cam.ac.uk/festivalofideas.

 

Latest News

Harnessing youth to fight the obesity epidemic

D’Arcy Williams [2019] has just been appointed CEO of Bite Back, a UK-based charity campaigning to ensure that every young person has access to healthy and nutritious food. After leaving […]

How do we address the challenges of an ageing world?

Three Gates Cambridge Scholars debate the question “How do we address the challenges of an ageing world?” in the final episode of the second series of our podcast, So, now […]

Health impact: Gates Cambridge at 25

Health is a huge focus of many Gates Cambridge Scholars, whether directly for those studying medical-related subjects or access to health services, or indirectly as there are so many multi-layered […]

Report investigates barriers to Bangladeshi and Pakistani women’s work

Bangladeshi and Pakistani women in London face intersecting barriers to finding good work, including racism, religious and gender discrimination and limited workplace flexibility – and cultural norms, while they may […]