CALD Cultural Perspectives

Introduction
This section provides an overview of Asian, Middle Eastern and African community cultural perspectives on family violence, while the following two sections will provide cultural perspectives on family violence specific to:

• Asian communities
  • South East Asian communities
  • East Asian communities
  • South Asian communities
• MEA communities
  • Middle Eastern communities
  • African communities

A woman’s immigration status plays a significant role in her susceptibility to abuse. Included in this section, are differing perceptions of what defines abuse in ethnic communities; triggers for family violence post migration and; issues of vulnerability for migrant, refugee, and non-English speaking women.

Women from culturally diverse backgrounds may face cultural and language barriers to using health services and may be under-served as health populations. Migrant women in situations of family violence are particularly at-risk during pregnancy. There is a linkage between family violence and poor mental health in migrant women.

Asian women and children in New Zealand have the poorest access to women’s refuge services compared to all other ethnic groups (Ministry of Social Development, 2011). New Zealand and international literature suggests that family violence in Asian, refugee and other CALD migrant families is heavily stigmatised and is under-reported (Boutros et al., 2011; Department for Community Development, Government of Western Australia, 2006; Family Violence Prevention Fund, 2009; Mehta, 2012; Rees & Pease, 2007).