Traveller women 30 times more likely to suffer domestic violence - report

TRAVELLER WOMEN are proportionately 30 times as likely as settled women to suffer domestic violence, while migrant women are more than twice as likely to suffer domestic violence than Irish women, according to a report published yesterday.

The report, Translating Pain into Action – Gender-based Violence and Minority Ethnic Women in Ireland, is published by the Women’s Health Council. It finds ethnic women are not only more vulnerable to gender-based violence than the general population, but also that they face a range of additional barriers to accessing help. The most common forms of violence against women is physical by an intimate partner, followed closely by sexual and emotional violence from an intimate partner.

“Other forms of gender-based violence included forced marriage, trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, conflict-based rape and female genital mutilation.”

In line with international research, the study found migrant ethnic women comprised five per cent of the population yet represented 13 per cent of those seeking services from anti-violence organisations.

“Likewise, Traveller women only make up 0.5 per cent of the Irish population but represent 15 per cent of all gender-based violence services.”

Among the barriers to getting help were acceptance of violence among some minority groups, unequal power relations between men and women, different perceptions of gender roles and a sense of loyalty to the community.

“For many women, these factors were compounded by language barriers.”

Aspects of immigration legislation, namely the conditions whereby a person must be resident here for two years before being entitled to welfare payment, “were also found to trap women in situations of domestic abuse”.

There were barriers for service providers too, including language, lack of intercultural training and inadequate resources.

Geraldine Luddy, the council’s director, said the report underlined how vulnerable ethnic women were to domestic violence. The reasons included entrenched gender inequality, social exclusion and racism.