Understanding violence and anti-violence work in the context of immigration and diversity

This paper discusses the various forms of violence that immigrant women of diverse ethno-cultural backgrounds experience in their daily lives in the Atlantic region of Canada and assesses the impact of such violence on the women, their efforts to cope with it, and their experiences with social services.  The research was accomplished by utilizing a combination of qualitative methodologies aimed at maximizing diverse immigrant women’s participation and at incorporating community input into the research and interpretation of the findings. It involved the participation of immigrant women and service providers in five Atlantic Canadian cities. In addition, the research aimed at capturing the experiences of the professionals who attempted to support the women.

Starting with a broad framework on violence, violence in the family, in the workplace and in the public arena are being explored, from the immigrant women’s own perspectives. The paper also focuses on the ways in which immigrant women interface with, and are constructed by social institutions such as settlement, social, criminal justice, employment, and education services when it comes to issues of violence; the ways that immigrant women may be victimized in these settings, particularly in the context of institutional and systemic factors pertaining to gender, class and race/ethnicity; and the individual and collective strategies that immigrant women resort to in order to cope with, or resolve, this violence in their daily lives and in the longer-term.  The paper underscores the need to conduct anti-violence work with immigrant women in ways that are culturally sensitive and do not end up victimizing the women.