Why does Maitri work mostly with immigrant women?

Mainly because immigrant women have an especially high risk of being in an abusive relationship, and are also least likely to know what to do about it.

Researchers Raj and Silverman (2003) recruited 160 participants for a study about women’s health in the greater Boston area. The majority of the participants were of Indian origin, but the sample also included women of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Nepalese origin, and included those who were US-born and foreign-born. The women were generally well-educated (nearly half had post-graduate degrees).

Of the entire sample, 40% of the women reported violence, but only half the women reported some awareness of services that could help them. Participants who had low social support (or high social isolation) in the US, and especially those who lacked family – factors common to many immigrant women – were significantly more likely to report injury from partner violence. The situation was particularly acute for women who were not born in the US, who were almost four times as likely to report injury as a result of partner violence, and only half as likely to be aware of appropriate services, as women who were born in the US.

As we’ve established in earlier blog entries, minority and immigrant women have generally been underserved by mainstream services and shelters for a variety of reasons (lack of resources, lack of cultural understanding). Minority and immigrant women, for the most part, have also not approached mainstream services and shelters for a number of reasons (lack of knowledge of existing options, perceived or experienced racism). It is this cultural gap that has given rise to targeted anti-DV agencies such as Maitri, which aim to narrow the gap by providing services to underserved minority and immigrant women, and by educating mainstream agencies about the unique needs of these populations.

The above findings suggest that South Asian immigrant women are not only at very high risk for domestic violence, but they are also at risk for not knowing what they can do about it. Organizations like Maitri can help meet their needs.

[For more information, see: Raj, A. & Silverman, J. G. (2003). Immigrant South Asian Women at Greater Risk for Injury from Intimate Partner Violence. American Journal of Public Health, 93(3), 435-437].