Girls, adult and older women, and family violence in immigrant communities: A multigenerational approach

Worldwide, girl children and women of all ages are subjected to violence in the family context. At the same time, feminists are also gradually addressing women's violence against one another, exemplified by maternal abuse of children and violence between adult and elderly women, exemplified by relational violence between mothers- and daughters-in-law. Based on a small-scale qualitative study of adult female survivors of child abuse, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse in two immigrant communities (Tamil and Punjabi) in Toronto, Canada, this presentation will raise the following questions: Who are the abusers and who are the victims in these communities? What are the intergenerational power relations that result in violence between different generations of women? How do the women themselves interpret/explain the causes of violence? How do the women explain the role of their own communities and/or the role of the receiving society, in causing or preventing violence? How do the women interpret their own roles as violence victims and/or aggressors? What suggestions do the women have for helping victims of family violence? Because of the scale of the qualitative study, there are no definite answers offered, but a discussion of the results will open up further avenues for addressing this important social problem, including the intergenerational aspects of it. At the same time, the complexities created by the immigration context will hopefully open up more discussion related to the lives of racialized immigrant girls and women.