"Hearing Their Voices": Exploring Femicide among Migrants and Culture Minorities

Abstract

The rates of domestic violence and femicide in various European countries tend to be higher among migrant women, as well as among women from cultural minorities. This led to the development of a culture and gender-sensitive in-depth interview guide aimed at better understanding this phenomenon, as well as identifying specific aspects of the experience of violence in a foreign scenario. The first stage was developing a draft interview guide based on the most important issues addressed in the professional literature, relating both to victims of domestic violence and to survivors of femicide and their families. This has allowed others to “hear their voices” and to understand their own perspectives, which are especially important considering the steady increase of this phenomenon around the world. The second phase was a pilot study among immigrant femicide survivors: first in Spain, later in Romania, and finally in Georgia, focusing on internally displaced people. The last step was analyzing the feedback from the different countries, which led to a refined and improved version of the interview guide. Thus, the current paper presents an ongoing process leading to a standardized interview guide, which could be adapted to local socio-cultural contexts, enabling comparative studies across Europe.

Understanding and preventing femicide using a cultural and ecological approach

“…The interactions of differing beliefs, attitudes and behaviours may be positive or negative and may represent either protective or risk factors for femicide. For example, as Nudelman et al (2017) note, in the case of migrant women suffering gender-based violence in Europe, the interaction between different cultural realities can prove crucial in terms of exacerbating these women's risk of femicide. Nudelman et al's (2017) research also explores several important factors that contribute to this risk in terms of the host state's attitude towards migrant women, any language or legal barriers in the host country, pressure from the women's local community in the host country and the women's access to support resources.…”

“…For example, as Nudelman et al (2017) note, in the case of migrant women suffering gender-based violence in Europe, the interaction between different cultural realities can prove crucial in terms of exacerbating these women's risk of femicide. Nudelman et al's (2017) research also explores several important factors that contribute to this risk in terms of the host state's attitude towards migrant women, any language or legal barriers in the host country, pressure from the women's local community in the host country and the women's access to support resources. Weil (2016), too, reports incidents where migrant women were forced to marry or were abducted by their husbands and suffered severe domestic violence in both their native and host countries, in her research on 'failed femicides'.…”

“…To understand the specific sociocultural and ecological context in which femicide takes place, it is important to focus both on local and minority cultures within Europe and the interactions between them. In the case of migrant women in Europe who are victims of ongoing gender-based violence, for instance, the interaction between their different cultural realities may lead to an increased risk of femicide caused by myriad factors that also act as barriers to their seeking assistance (Nudelman et al, 2017). By helping to formulate effective, culturally appropriate and preventative measures in response to femicide, the ecological approach can further our understanding of and responses to these issues.…”

“…The knowledge and skills gained through such training will enable them to explore each woman's particular history of violence and threats against her, since specific types of threats that are made may be related to societal norms in the male aggressor's country of origin. It is therefore critical that healthcare providers be trained to ask specific questions in a sensitive way to identify some of these warning signs at an early stage and thus prevent femicide from occurring (Gill et al, 2016;Nudelman et al, 2017).…”

Research and prevention of femicide across Europe

“…Nevertheless, via reports and articles on the extent and nature of femicide, researchers have impacted prevention programmes. Some COST researchers have initiated and launched a prevention tool (Nudelman et al, 2017). Others are personally involved with law enforcement authorities or with projects aimed at reducing femicide and extreme domestic violence at the grassroots level.…”