Intimate-Partner Violence Among Immigrant Communities in the U.S
On
November 16, 2012 the Gender and Society Research Center (GAS) at Hoa Sen
University, 93 Cao Thang, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City held a workshop on
two subjects; of these, one was , “Intimate-Partner Violence among
Immigrant Communities in the US: Interventions, Preventions and Social Networks
and the other was Prisoners' Re-Entry – A Case of Female Offenders in the US”.
The workshop facilitator was Professor Bui Ngoc Hoan, Department of Sociology,
University of Tennessee (USA). Dr. Hoan specializes in criminal sociology,
criminal justice, gender, and migration. She has published many works and
articles on gendered-violence amoung immigrant communities in the U.S, the
impact of integration on the behavior of adolescents, and the impact of social
networks on the re-integration of female inmates and many more. Thirty-five Hoa
Sen faculty, staff, and friends participated in the workshop and it was limited
to the issue of gendered-violence by husband or partner.
Professor
Hoan, in beginning the initial workshop subject, noted that gendered-violence
in immigrant communities, such as Asian or Mexican, has different
characteristics and methods to deal with their problems compared with those of
other ethnic communities. Gendered-violence is understood as violence against
women because of their gender. Most victims of violence are women and the
majority of the agents of violence are men.
Starting in the 1970s, violence against women
was seen as a social issue in the U.S. This view is accepted by feminine
advocates. Many studies have found that violence against women has consequences
for the victims, the families, and society. The cost of caring for victims is
very high and at best they are unable to work. The children and their mental
health are affected. Society suffers all of these consequences, therefore,
intimate-partner violence is not a private family affair.
Since 1993, the United Nations has viewed
gendered-violence as a violation of human rights and, therefore, it must be
excluded. Prof. Hoan presented the causes of gendered violence from feminist
perspectives, which are the dominance of men and the subordination of women to
men’s authority.
Following the introduction of the concepts and
perspectives of gendered-violence, Prof. Hoan talked about its characteristics
and the interventions taken in immigrant communities in the U.S.
Gendered-violence may increase or decrease after immigration depending on the
situation of the immigrants. In reality, immigrant men have many difficulties
in life and career, whereas women can easily adapt to new life settings
conducive to gender equality, employment, and income. This leads to the loss of
power for the men in the family, and consequently they behave violently toward
their wives or partners. In addition, if immigrant women are too dependent
their her husbands they are also prone to violence.
In terms of preventions and interventions, it is vitally crucial to pay
attention to the cultural aspects of the immigrants. Often times, immigrants
are strongly attached to their families because of the poor level of
integration into the host communities; with such isolation, family is their
only crutch to lean on for support. Immigrant women hardly accept measures they
may take such as to have their husbands/partners arrested, or sue for divorce.
Therefore, intervention will be effective and helpful if counselors understand
the cultural aspects of the immigrant community.
In addition to the criminal justice measures
and providing training programs to batterers, there are many measures and
support services to help victims. They include temporary shelters,
administrative services, family and psychological counseling, financial
assistance, job training, job creation, support services for children who
witnessed violence, and prevention through community education. According to
Professor Hoan, the most effective intervention is a combination of services
and the best is use of simultaneous multiple services.
There was a question and answer session
following presentation of the first subject. The audience was able to ask any
questions or discuss any issues in order to gain a better understanding of the
gendered-violence situation in immigrant communities. Professor Hoan shared
that in a Vietnamese community in the U.S., intervention can be effective or
not depending very much on the concern and attention of its community leaders.
With regard to Vietnamese brides who are completely dependent on their husbands
and are isolated from the communities because of their limitation in speaking
English and knowledge of the law, their community needs to help them understand
the law, to learn English and to find jobs.
The second part of Professor Hoan’s
presentation was on “Social Networks and Prisoners' Re-Entry: A Case of Female
Offenders in the US”. She said that during the past 15 years the number of
prisoners in the U.S., particularly female prisoners, has increased rapidly.
The number of female prisoners increased nine-fold in the past 30 years, while
male prisoners had only a four-fold increase. Women account for only 9% of the
total number of US prisoners, however, their recidivism rate is as high as that
of men. The majority of women prisoners age 30 to 40 are poor, have little
education, and little or no professional expertise. They usually grew up in
single-mother families whose loved-ones have been committed to crime. The
findings show that 70% of the female prisoners were sexually abused during
childhood and 50% had families with children below 18 years of age who
experience a higher rate of violence in the population. Seventy to eighty
percent of female prisoners are alcohol and drug abusers and the proportion of
HIV/AIDs and sexually transmitted diseases is higher than in men. Most female
offenders are committed to drug trafficking (retail sales) and theft. They are
often committed to crimes because they are temped by their husbands or
partners.
Professor Hoan said that although prisons
provide educational programs, job training, rehabilitation and treatment for
female prisoners, these provisions are often not effective. When released from
prisons, female prisoners have certain urgent needs to be met. They are: stable
accommodation, employment, stable income, treatment, family reunion particularly
with their children, and successfully complying with parole conditions. They
face many obstacles in meeting these needs and are prone to recidivism. Thus
social networks play a very important role in supporting reentry of female
offenders into the community. First, if the loved ones in the family help them
immediately after they are released from prison, they would soon be settled. In
addition, charitable organizations can help former prisoners participate in
charitable activities, from which they will become more active and
positive-minded because they feel valuable and not completely useless . The
good fellow inmates are also an effective source of support. Moreover, the good
impact of parole officers, if they show sympathy and offer flexible probation,
can be very effective. Social networks need to direct former female prisoners
how to become law-abiding citizens and assist them in ending relationships with
those who tend to commit crimes.
The participants had lively and
straightforward discussions and they enjoyed the workshop because it was very
informative, scientific, simple, and clear.
Thai Thi Ngoc Du
Translated into English by Doan Thi Ngoc
