Silence behind the Locked Doors: A Qualitative Study on the Domestic Violence Pakistani Married Immigrant Women in Australia

Although domestic violence against women is a widespread problem, but its forms and intensity remain highly variant across contexts. For example, in Australia domestic violence commonly occurs between two intimate partners, while within Pakistani contexts it can be instigated directly or indirectly by any member of the household including the victim’s in-laws. Literature on domestic violence also reveals its multifaceted impacts on the lives of immigrant women coping with multiple challenges of integration within a transnational environment. In this study, I utilise an intersectional framework to examine the complex interplay of factors such as arranged marriages, patrilocal extended family system, patriarchal cultural norms, social networking skills, economic dependency and visa status to understand vulnerability of immigrant women towards domestic violence. This study argues that post-migration transition into a nuclear family structure, changes in socio-legal infrastructure, expanded access to economic opportunities and transnational social networking directly impacts women's ability to negotiate and renegotiate patriarchal structures. Unlike their home country, living in a nuclear setting decentralises the collective control of the extended kin providing more space to make patriarchal bargains and assert agency. Reformation of social networks, access to economic opportunities and legal protection services demonstrates how individual agency is continuously evolving and is negotiated distinctively in different cultural environments. Drawing from the case study of Pakistani immigrant women in Australia, my study reveals how these women navigate complex forms of formal and informal strategical interventions to assert their agency in the face of violence after migration to Australia and the subjectivities underpinning it. To collect my data, I utilised in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and online participant observation and employ thematic analysis to interpret diverse experiences of women.