Intimate male partner violence in the migration process: intersections of gender, race and class

Abstract

This paper is a report of a study of Sri Lankan Tamil Canadian immigrants' perspectives on factors that contribute to intimate male partner violence in the postmigration context. Increasing evidence illustrates the extent and nature of intimate male partner violence and its links to a range of physical and mental health problems for women around the world. However, there has been little health sciences research on intimate male partner violence in the postmigration context in Canada. Data were collected for this qualitative descriptive study in 2004 and 2005, through individual interviews with community leaders (n = 16), four focus groups with women and four with men from the general community (n = 41), and individual interviews with women who had experienced intimate male partner violence (n = 6). The research was informed by a postcolonial feminist perspective and an ecosystemic framework. Participants' conceptualization of the production of intimate male partner violence in the postmigration context involved (a) experiences of violence in the premigration context and during border crossing; (b) gender inequity in the marital institution; (c) changes in social networks and supports; and (d) changes in socioeconomic status and privilege. Increasing immigration requires that nurses pay attention to and respond appropriately to women's unique needs, based on complex and interrelated factors that produce intimate male partner violence in the postmigration context.