Asian Communities

Summary of cultural differences between Asian communities

When we talk about Asian communities, for simplicity’s sake we attempt to generalise. However, we need to bear in mind that Asia is a very large and culturally diverse continent and additionally that not all Asian people are Asian born. There are a number of groups to acknowledge, including New Zealand born generations of Asian people, Asian communities who are born elsewhere, e.g., Indians born in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Fiji. Be aware that the following generalisations will not apply to all families and groups.

In general, Asian communities are not responsive to incidents of family violence. There is a strong sense of shame associated with family violence and Asian families and communities are more likely to support the notion that family violence is a private matter and to be less receptive to outside intervention (Fanslow et al., 2010). Disclosure damages the whole community’s reputation, and is seen to bring shame to the ethnic community concerned, and to children and families. If women start to disclose violence, it becomes a “community affair”.

“Women represent the ambassadors of their country. Women feel that they have to take the violence rather than speaking up.” (Tse, 2007).
Health professional’s knowledge of their client’s cultural/religious needs and of the impact of family dynamics is critical to gaining disclosure, and to their client’s acceptance of support from health service providers.