For many individuals, immigrating to Canada is a liberating and incredible experience, but it often comes with a lot of culture shocks and a lack of transitional resources. This creates an added sense of displacement and difficulties, especially for women. It can be a lot to deal with when uprooting to a whole new place and feeling the added pressure of maintaining their cultural heritage for their immigrant families. That burden is felt heavily upon women of Asian or Indian descent, which Malathy Praveen writes about in Elpizo Connect Magazine.
Praveen’s piece is educational and very insightful to the reality many Indo-Canadian women face as a part of the immigrant population, especially when it comes to domestic violence issues.
The experience of domestic violence for Indo-Canadian immigrant women is kept very secretive, as families often do not support women coming forward, seeking help and publicly sharing their issues with someone else, even if it is a professional. The patriarchal and cultural beliefs among Asian Indians are so strong that women often do not recognize domestic violence, accepting male dominance and power as their only form of knowledge.
Research reveals that domestic violence is alarmingly high among Indo-Canadian immigrants. Research also indicates that these immigrant women are at a much higher risk for intimate partner violence. Things like social stigma, gender roles, isolation after migration, lack of social support, and unawareness about available resources causes women to not be able to seek proper help.
It is important to know that Elpizo Counselling Services is a great resource for victims of abuse and trauma. The experience of domestic violence in Indo-Canadian women immigrants is more common than you think. We want to help be a better known resource for all immigrants who experience these difficulties of abuse, which is why we know the importance of including Malathy Praveen’s piece in our first issue.
You can learn more about domestic violence issues in Elpizo Connect Magazine.