A new report by South Asian family violence prevention organisation IndianCare has found that women and other victims of family violence in Victoria face unique, culturally-specific challenges and found there is a need for more culturally responsive services across the social welfare sector to combat existing bias and underfunding. 

The Project Maitri Report, launched this week, captures the experiences of both the victims of family violence (with some penetrating case studies) as well as drawing insights and recommendations from a series of in-depth conversations with communities of practice members encompassing representatives of family violence support agencies, community organisations and people with lived experience.. 

South Asians’ unique challenges

The report found that South Asian women face increased vulnerability to intimate partner violence (IPV), economic abuse and other forms of family violence. 

One of its main findings is that cultural pressures to adhere to family honour are often combined with a fear of social isolation, financial dependency on a spouse, and a further legal or visa dependency to make it more difficult for women to escape abusive relationships. 

The report also recognised that the diversity with the South Asian diaspora needs to be better understood. 

“Within the Indian community, some may be very open and dynamic to the changing social norms and may accept differences coming from the younger generation. However, others maybe rigid and saving family honour at any cost may still be the priority.”

The strong role of patriarchy in South Asian cultures was identified as a significant challenge, and a major barrier to creating South Asian and Indian-specific responses to tackling family violence. 

“South Asian communities face challenges such as language barriers, cultural stigma, fear of deportation and limited understanding of the legal system,” the report said.

The report was launched by Professor Supriya Singh, Co-Chair of the Multicultural Women's Alliance Against Family Violence and an expert in economic abuse. She acted as a cultural advisor in the development of the report, praising it and the women who spoke up in the South Asian community. 

“It takes an act of courage to speak out when you see or are experiencing family violence,” she said. 

“I applaud the work of IndianCare and its partners in creating this report.” 

“Migrants to this country can truly understand the loneliness and isolation of other migrants.” 

“It’s important that this report is read by practitioners and government at all levels,” Professor Singh noted.  

Gaps in the support systems and key recommendations 

As of September 2024, over 47 women in Australia have died from gender-based violence and an Australian woman is killed every four days according to the advocacy group Destroy the Joint's project Counting Dead Women. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announced $4.7 billion in extra funding to tackle gender based violence, calling the current situation a “national crisis.”

This funding pledge includes support for more frontline services, including $3.9 billion for legal services. 

The Project Maitri Report offers an important view of how frontline services have significant systemic gaps that impact on their ability to support South Asian women, and it makes a series of recommendations for improvements. 

The report identified bias in service providers, a lack of knowledge about South Asian culture in practice, a lack of cultural competency among a range of workers, and the possibility of misunderstanding and mistrust between community members and support service providers. 

It also referred to potential mistrust between mainstream support providers and ethnic community organisations who have a deeper cultural knowledge of their specific communities but may not have as much experience with the protocols of family violence support.  

“Mainstream service providers face cultural and structural challenges in working with South Asian communities. For example, practitioners not being able to distinguish between arranged and forced marriages.”

“Service providers may have personal biases towards communities that need addressing on issues like dowry, rigid gender roles, language barrier and notions about what constitutes family violence.”

Legal support improvements needed

With a significant amount of federal funding earmarked for legal services, the Project Maitri report found it was ‘crucial’ that legal services develop “specific legal frameworks or fast-track procedures for cases involving individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds who are facing family violence.” 

The experts and practitioners consulted in the report “collectively expressed that
South Asian communities often do not understand how the Australian legal system works or how individuals experiencing family violence can receive support.”

Judgebir Singh, a lawyer and social activist who works with culturally diverse clients, mentioned there are often misperceptions in the community. 

“They often think an IVO means it is all over—we are heading for separation or divorce,” he said. 

Other barriers in the legal system include a lack of translators, delays in appointments, the unfamiliarity of South Asians with their legal rights and the differences from their home countries, the limited access to free legal aid, and a distrust of legal institutions. 

One of the most important legal barriers was visas and the temporary status of non-citizens which placed them at a greater risk of experiencing abuse and violence. Research cited in the report referred to the migrant experience, the idea of residency as ‘conditional’ and the fear of deportation for reporting a crime as important hindrances to their accessing of support services. 

“We need to focus on the culturally-informed education of service provider organisations and legal and support workers, from the first point of contact, supported by interpreters.” 

“Frontline workers, police officers, lawyers and legal officers, health professionals, family violence practitioners and even government and service provider executives should receive training or work with ethnic organisations to become more culturally-sensitive.” 

“We need better access to services and more culturally responsive social housing.” 

"We also really need targeted education to help raise the level of understanding and awareness of family violence and our legal rights within our South Asian communities,” said IndianCare President Jaya Manchikanti. 

Economic abuse persists 

The normal patterns of financial control and inheritance in South Asian communities continue to reinforce patriarchal power and replicate patterns of behaviour in Australia that significantly disadvantage women. 

“The practice of favouring sons in inheritance in India is a form of abuse,” the report notes. 

“Although women legally have the right to equal inheritance, they are often discouraged from
claiming their share to avoid family conflict, with some mothers supporting this pattern to maintain harmony among siblings.”

“For many women, especially those from South Asian communities, this results in continued economic abuse and a lack of agency in financial decision-making.”

The term economic abuse is defined in Victorian family violence legislation as “behaviour that is coercive, deceptive, or unreasonably controlling and that restricts a partner’s ability to acquire, use, and maintain economic resources.”

In one case study featured in the report, a South Asian woman was unaware she was experiencing economic abuse. 

This woman lacked access to her own bank accounts and salary and could not access Centrelink support for her children.

The woman’s husband received the Family Tax Benefit while the woman covered the children’s expenses. In that situation, the husband refused to send the children to child care, it would not be possible for the woman to apply for the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) due to lack of access to the account. 

In many cases like this South Asian women showed an unfamiliarity with the application process for the subsidy and other economic benefits they were entitled to access.

Ethnic organisations’ expertise received discounted funding

IndianCare’s report found that smaller, ethnic-specific organisations were often underfunded, with resources shared across the sector often unfairly distributed or inaccessible, meaning these organisations cannot effectively meet the needs of their communities. 

“Partnerships between mainstream family violence services and ethnic community organisations are often informal or underdeveloped,” the report noted. 

“Smaller ethnic community organisations often feel marginalised, as larger, well-funded family violence providers may lead decision-making without properly consulting or involving them in creating culturally appropriate interventions.”

Key Report Recommendations 

The Project Maitri report made 27 key recommendations, under the following four key themes: 

1. Targeted education for South Asian communities. This includes culturally tailored efforts to address deep-rooted social conditioning and patriarchal beliefs that perpetuate family violence, aimed at increasing the limited knowledge of available service. It also includes engaging men in the discussion to prevent family violence. 

2. Enhanced accessibility to legal support. This includes implementing targeted legal education and awareness programs for South Asian communities on family violence, family law, intervention orders, visaabuse, mediation support, and co-parenting after divorce.

3. Increased cultural competency of frontline staff. This includes investing in education and training of frontline staff to enhance their cultural competence and responsiveness to build a more culturally informed and inclusive family violence service provision.

4. Greater collaboration with ethnic community organisations. This includes strengthening partnerships and collaboration among ethno-specific organisations, community services, and mainstream family violence support services.

The report also offered additional recommendations.  

It referred to the importance of including men in the change process “by inviting men in small talks to begin with and gradually allowing opportunities for them to reflect on how controlling and abusive behaviour does more harm than good to relationships within the family.”

It suggested there are processes to ensure police have an awareness that South Asians with low English language proficiency may not be able to fully explain their experience.  As a consequence, “if the victim survivor is misidentified and listed as respondent in the IVO, they may lose trust in services, and suffer in silence.”

The report also offered case studies and a pathway to realise outcomes that leave women in a better position if the systems cater better and more sensitively to their needs. 

“If there is adequate recovery support which follows crisis intervention support, women may be able to recover from family violence, feel empowered to support themselves and their children, and begin a life free from violence.”
 

Resources

IndianCare’s Project Maitri Report can be accessed here. 

IndianCare support services are available across Victoria. They can be reached through their website or phone number 1300 00 50 40. 

In New South Wales, the Indian (Sub-Continent) Crisis and Support Agency offers culturally sensitive support. 

For other support services, you can contact: 

• National: 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), The National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line. 24 hours, 7 days a week. www.1800respect.org.au

• National: 13 11 14, Lifeline, for crisis support services in any state

• Queensland: 1800 811 811, DV Connect, free state wide telephone service that provides confidential counselling and referral, www.dvconnect.org/womensline

• Victoria: 1800 015 188,  Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre. 24 hours/7 days a week, www.safesteps.org.au  

• Victoria: 1800 806 292, Sexual Assault Crisis Line, for past or current sexual abuse, 24 hours, 7 days a week, www.sacl.com.au

• New South Wales: 1800 656 463, NSW Domestic Violence Line, 24 hours, 7 days a week, www.community.nsw.gov.au

• New South Wales: 1800 424 017, NSW Rape Crisis, 24 hours, 7 days a week, www.rape-dvservices.org.au

Sandeep Varma is the Founder and CEO of SAARI Collective