Women In England Research Articles

Anti-racist feminism: engaging with the past

Two landmark books, originally published during the same era of struggle in the UK, have been republished in 2018: Finding a Voice: Asian women in Britain and Heart of the Race: Black women’s lives in Britain. These books make the history of anti-racism in the UK – and the role of black and Asian women within this that is so often overlooked – accessible to a broad audience and give context to the gendered racism and racialised patriarchies that persist today. Reviewing these reissued texts, the author argues that the UK’s radical history is a powerful tool that can reactivate anti-racist feminism both locally and internationally, pointing to the continued fight to retain BAME domestic violence refuges in the face of austerity cuts in the UK and the unique global solidarity that is coming to the fore as an emboldened far Right attacks women’s rights internationally.

Resisting Fragmentation: An Exploration of South Asian Muslim Women’s Resistance as Resilience in the ‘War on Terror’ in Britain Under the Lens of Hegemony

In Britain, the ‘war on terror’ exposes fissures, breaks and dislocations in the inter-relationship/inter-connection of South Asian Muslim women with dominant political and social systems. This paper uses Antonio Gramsci’s conception ‘hegemony’ to elucidate South Asian Muslim women’s struggle to retain, and extend identity formations in conditions of harm and political and social environs of hostility. It departs from conventional studies by using hegemony as struggle for domination as the theoretical frame to explore the psychological effects of political harm to self and identity. Gramsci’s notion of ‘the war of position’ locates the ‘war on terror’ as historic/temporal, a prolonged struggle for domination/hegemony in British/South Asian Muslim relations. This paper employs findings from ethnographic research to make the case that, in this hostile environment, South Asian Muslim women in Britain are engaged in counter-hegemonic resistance in the generation of hybrid identities. Securing new identities requires considerable psychological and cultural flexibility; it involves repositioning fragments of self to reformulate, to create, identity in a climate of hatred and fear.

Slimming One’s Way to a Better Self? Weight Loss Clubs and Women in Britain, 1967–1990

Abstract Following the arrival of Weight Watchers UK in 1967, slimming clubs expanded rapidly in Britain in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Initially aimed at, and founded by, women, these organizations were complex emotional spaces in which female entrepreneurship and homosociality would unfold. Looking afresh at the relationship between women and commercialized weight loss, this article provides the first detailed study of the rise of the slimming club in mid-to-late-twentieth-century Britain. Slimming clubs proved lucrative business opportunities for some women; moreover, as homosocial spaces intersecting with women’s everyday lives, they had the potential to be emotionally and psychologically empowering. A history of these organizations thus complicates feminist critiques of the slimming industry. This article draws on a variety of historical sources to piece together this forgotten history, including contemporary slimming guides, newspaper ‘before-and-after’ features, and oral history interviews with industry professionals and former slimming club members. Though members recognized that the commercial promise of transformation was shot through with contradictions, simultaneously, slimming clubs sparked enjoyment in being in the female body and provided a space away from domesticity.

Residential wood stove use and indoor exposure to PM2.5 and its components in Northern New England.

Background:Residential wood stove use has become more prevalent in high-income countries, but only limited data exist on indoor exposure to PM2.5 and its components.Methods:From 2014–2016, we collected 7 day indoor air samples in 137 homes of pregnant women in Northern New England, using a micro-environmental monitor. We examined associations of wood stove use with PM2.5 mass and its components [black carbon (BC), organic and elemental carbon and their fractions, and trace elements], adjusted for sampling season, community wood stove use, and indoor activities. We examined impact of stove age, EPA certification, and wood moisture on indoor pollutants.Results:Median (IQR) household PM2.5 was 6.65 (5.02) µg/m3 and BC was 0.23 (0.20) µg/m3. Thirty percent of homes used a wood stove during monitoring. In homes with versus without a stove, PM2.5 was 20.6% higher [although 95% confidence intervals (−10.6, 62.6) included the null] and BC was 61.5% higher (95% CI: 11.6, 133.6). Elemental carbon (total and fractions 3 and 4), potassium, calcium, and chloride were also higher in homes with a stove. Older stoves, non-EPA-certified stoves, and wet or mixed (vs dry) wood were associated with higher pollutant concentrations, especially BC.Conclusions:Homes with wood stoves, particularly those that were older and non-EPA certified or burning wet wood had higher concentrations of indoor air combustion-related pollutants.

How to get away with authenticity: Viola Davis and the intersections of Blackness, naturalness, femininity and relatability

ABSTRACTBy focusing on the star image of Viola Davis, this article explores intersecting narratives concerning authenticity, Blackness, celebrity, and embodiment, which are revealed as part of media and public responses to famous Black actresses. Discourses of race and fame are unpacked whilst scrutinising overlapping perceptions of naturalness, femininity and relatability. Building upon prior studies of the socio-cultural impact of celebrities’ hair, the analysis focuses on how the hair of famous Black women is read as an aesthetic signifier of the perceived (in)authenticity of their Blackness, which may be entwined with ideas about Black feminist politics. Since the launch of Scandal in 2012 and How to Get Away with Murder (HTGAWM) in 2014, much attention has been paid to Viola Davis and Kerry Washington, the lead actresses in these US television dramas respectively. By analysing online narratives and aspects of interviews with Black women in Britain, this article examines assessments of the authenticity and relatability of famous Black actresses. It contributes to scholarly conversations regarding the contingent nature of impressions of authentic celebrity, including their raced and gendered components. This involves accounting for some of the ways that normative perceptions of Blackness, femininity and feminism operate as part of interracial and intraracial celebrity discourse.

Association of Perceived Discrimination With Emotional Well-being in Older Adults With Visual Impairment

A significant proportion of individuals with visual impairment report experiences of discrimination. However, evidence comparing perceived discrimination among people with visual impairment with the general population is lacking. In addition, poorer mental health and well-being have been detected in this population, but the association between discrimination and well-being in those with visual impairment is unknown. To investigate perceived discrimination among people with visual impairment and its association with well-being in a population-based sample of older adults. This study collected data from 7677 participants 50 years or older from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a representative sample of older men and women in England. Experiences of perceived discrimination were reported from July 2010 to June 2011. Depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, quality of life, and loneliness were assessed from July 2010 to June 2011 and May 2016 to June 2017. Data analysis was performed from September 27, 2018, to October 10, 2018. Self-rated eyesight, categorized as poor (ratings of fair, poor, or blind) or good (good, very good, or excellent), which was not previously validated for this population. We used logistic regression to analyze differences in perceived discrimination between participants reporting poor vs good eyesight and cross-sectional and prospective associations between perceived discrimination and well-being in those with poor eyesight. A total of 7677 participants (mean [SD] age, 66.71 [9.17] years; 4023 [52.4%] female) were included in the study. Participants with poor eyesight had increased odds of reporting perceived discrimination compared with those with good eyesight (odds ratio [OR], 1.41; 95% CI, 1.23-1.63; P < .001). Cross-sectionally, participants who reported poor eyesight and discrimination had increased odds of depressive symptoms (OR, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.57-2.92; P < .001) and loneliness (OR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.61-2.92; P < .001) and lower quality of life (B = -4.06; 95% CI, -5.29 to -2.84; P < .001) and life satisfaction (B = -2.37; 95% CI, -3.28 to -1.46; P < .001) compared with poor eyesight and no reported discrimination. Prospectively, perceived discrimination was associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms among participants reporting poor eyesight at 6-year follow-up (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.08-2.76; P = .02). These findings suggest that older adults with impaired vision are at increased risk of perceived discrimination. Those who reported experiencing discrimination had higher levels of depressive symptoms and loneliness and lower quality of life and life satisfaction. Action to address discrimination may help mitigate the increased risk of poor well-being in this population.

Cancer worry frequency vs. intensity and self-reported colorectal cancer screening uptake: A population-based study.

ObjectivesMany studies of cancer worry use items measuring frequency or intensity. Little is known about how each of these relate to cancer screening uptake. This study compared the association between worry frequency vs. intensity and colorectal cancer screening intention/uptake.MethodsAcross four surveys (2014–2016), we collected data from 2878 screening-eligible men and women (aged 60–70) in England. Measures included single-items assessing cancer worry frequency and intensity, and a derived combination of both. We also assessed self-reported past faecal occult blood testing uptake (ever vs. never), intention to participate when next invited (yes vs. no), and demographics. Using logistic regression, we compared a model containing sociodemographic characteristics (Model 1), with four models adding cancer worry frequency (Model 2), intensity (Model 3), both (Model 4), or the combined measure (Model 5).ResultsA model with cancer worry intensity and demographics (Model 3) explained significantly more variance in uptake and intention (R2 = 0.068 and 0.062, respectively) than demographics alone (Model 1: R2 = 0.058 and 0.042; p < 0.001), or a model with demographics and cancer worry frequency (Model 2: R2 = 0.059 and 0.052; p < 0.001). The model was also equally as effective as models including both the frequency and intensity items (Model 4: R2 = 0.070 n.s. and 0.062 n.s.), or using the derived combination of both (Model 5: R2 = 0.063 n.s. and 0.053 n.s.).ConclusionA single item measure of cancer worry intensity appeared to be most parsimonious for explaining variance in colorectal cancer screening intention and uptake.

As/saying architecture: a ficto-spatial essay of lying-in

Through an exposé of my research, ‘The Architecture of Lying-in: From the Dark and Airless Room to the Hospital for Women’, this paper explores creative-critical methods of writing architectural history. Until the 1740s, women in England gave birth in the bedroom, which was refashioned for the occasion as a dark, internalised space, the ‘lying-in chamber’. Around this time, the rise of the man- midwife and instruments such as maternal forceps heralded the lying-in hospital, the first specialist hospital overall, yet few architectural descriptions of it exist, nor of the maternal domestic space it challenged. Here, I examine the home and the first London lying-in hospital by drawing on a range of sources such as architectural plans, midwifery manuals and treatises, maps, novels and political writings. Developing a text that plies between essay and fiction, I critically reconstruct the architecture of lying-in.

Accumulated lifecourse adversities and depressive symptoms in later life among older men and women in England: a longitudinal study

AbstractThis paper investigates the association between accumulated major lifecourse adversities and later-life depressive symptoms among older people in England, both at a single point in time (prevalence) and the onset over time during later life (incidence), using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Using retrospective data on the experience of major life adversities from childhood onwards, five latent classes were identified: no/few lifecourse adversities (58.6%), lost relationship (27.0%), chained adversities (2.4%), childhood adversities (6.3%) and war-related adversities (5.7%). Older people who had experienced ‘chained adversities’, ‘childhood adversities’ and ‘a lost relationship’ had higher odds of presenting current depressive symptoms in 2006, even after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, health-risk behaviours and social resources. Longitudinal analysis indicated that amongst respondents who were clear of depression in 2006, those older people who had experienced childhood adversities, a lost relationship and war-related adversities experienced a higher risk of having a new case of depressive symptoms. Results further indicate that women's mental health in later life is more sensitive to earlier life adversities than men's. The study shows that intervention earlier in the lifecourse may have benefits for the individual both contemporaneously and over the longer term.

MON-221 Recalibrating the Modified Ferriman-Gallwey Score in Middle Eastern Women: Population Study

INTRODUCTION Hirsutism is defined as excessive growth of terminal hair in androgen-dependent areas of the body in women. The most widely used scoring system for hirsutism was first developed by Ferriman and Gallwey in 1961, the system was derived from a population study of white women in England and a cutoff point of > 8 defining hirsutism. Unfortunately Ferriman and Gallwey score carries many limitations. One of the main limitations is the racial impact on hair growth, where different races have different degree of hair growth even with the similar androgen levels. Another limitation is that it depends on physician based assessment which may be skewed due to cosmetic treatment aimed at minimizing hair growth appearance in women particularly in the Middle East. The literature is devoid of strong evidence for the use of the modified Ferriman and Gallwey (mFG) score to define hirsutism in Middle Eastern with any particular cut-off. We therefore tried to tackle these two limitations with a large population based study for self-assessment of hair growth amongst women in the Middle East to identify the average hair growth quantity and help with identifying a more relevant cut-off point. METHODS An online survey was launched through social media applications in Middle East targeting women aged 13 and above in the period between 1-31 January 2018. Data were collected regarding self-assessment of hirsutism based on mFG score. The survey included 18 questions that focused on the 9 locations of hair growth outlined in the mFG score. Additional questions aimed to uncover any possible androgen disturbance states. RESULTS 21,445 responses were received, 14,411 (67.2%) of them were adequately completed. The majority of the completed responses were from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait 10,323 (72%). 10,513 (73%) women denied having any hormonal problems, consuming anti-androgens or oral contraceptive pills or having irregular cycles. The 95th percentile of mFG score of those women was 13. 9,989 women had a mFG score >13 with 4,095 (41%) perceived themselves as being hirsute while 524 women had a mFG score ≤13 with 474 (90.5%) believing that they suffer from hirsutism. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION This study appears to be the largest of its kind done in this region of Asia to the best of our knowledge. Self-perception of hirsutism appears to be more prevalent amongst the population studied which may reflect underlying social beliefs. Self- perception can help overcome any obstacles of cosmetic therapy that may impair clinical assessment of hair growth and distributions. Middle Eastern women appear to have a greater quantity of body hair growth at baseline. A cut off point using mFG score of >13 may be a better standard for used to define hirsutism and prompting work-up in females originating from this area. Further prospective studies to correlate these findings with clinical assessment are needed.

A Comparison of Perceived Barriers and Motivators to Physical Activity in Young and Middle-Aged Women

Women become increasingly sedentary with age, therefore it is important to understand women’s barriers and motivators to physical activity (PA) at different ages to optimize PA interventions. However, limited studies have examined differences in perceived barriers to PA between young and middle-aged adult females. This study investigated barriers and motivators to PA in young (18-years, n=94) and middle-aged (36-55 years, n=77) women in England, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the Exercise Benefits Barrier Scale, administered online. Mean scores for total, subscale and individual barrier and motivation items were reported for each age group. Independent t-tests assessed age group differences in total scores. A MANOVA explored age group differences in subscale scores. Total barrier and motivator scores for the whole group were M = 2.04, SD = 0.45 and M = 3.20, SD = 0.44, respectively. No age group differences were observed in total scores (p > 0.05). The leading barrier to PA in both groups was physical exertion, which was rated significantly higher by the young cohort (M = 2.70, SD = 0.59), compared to the middle-aged cohort (M = 2.43, SD = 0.60). Motivator subscales were ranked in the same order for both groups (physical performance, psychological outlook, preventive health, life enhancement, and social interaction), with no age group differences in scores. PA promotion strategies for young and middle-aged women should focus on improving multiple aspects of physical performance and support the development of self-regulatory skills such as strategic planning, goal setting, self-monitoring, and time-management.

Jihadi brides, Prevent and critical thinking

An analysis of the Prevent programme and its impact on teaching critical thinking skills in the classroom, with a particular reference to radicalised young Muslim women in Britain.

Well-Being Among Older Gay and Bisexual Men and Women in England: A Cross-sectional Population Study

ObjectivesLesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) older people present an under-represented population in research, with limited research citing higher prevelance of depression, loneliness, rejection, and overall poorer health and well-being outcomes. Our study compares well-being, defined as quality of life, life satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and depression, among LGB people with their heterosexual peers'. DesignCross-sectional population study using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA), a representative panel study of older adults aged 50 and older. Setting and ParticipantsData were from ELSA wave 6, collected 2012-2013. A total of 5691 participants were included in the analysis, with 326 (5.7%) self-identifying as LGB. MeasuresWell-being was measured using CASP-19, a quality of life questionnaire; the Satisfaction with Life Scale for life satisfaction; and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for depressive symptoms. Sexual satisfaction was assessed using the question “During the past three months, how satisfied have you been with your overall sex life?” In addition, t test and chi-square tests were used to test differences in sociodemographic characteristics between LGB and heterosexual participants. Bivariate logistical regression and linear regression were used to test associations between sexual orientation and well-being outcomes. ResultsIn unadjusted models, LGB participants reported significantly lower mean quality of life and life satisfaction, and had significantly lower odds of reporting satisfaction with their overall sex life and higher odds of reporting depressive symptoms above threshold. After adjustment for sociodemographic and health-related covariates, there remained significant differences between LGB and heterosexual groups in mean quality of life scores (B = −0.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] −1.87 to −0.06, P = .037) and odds of sexual satisfaction (odds ratio = 0.56, 95% CI 0.38-0.82, P = .003). Conclusions/ImplicationsLGB older people report lower quality of life and lower sexual satisfaction than their heterosexual counterparts, possibly associated with a number of unwanted social experiences.

Utilisation of mammography by women with mobility impairment in the UK: secondary analysis of cross-sectional data

ObjectivesResearch has shown that people with physical impairment report lower utilisation of preventive services. The aim of this study was to examine whether women with mobility impairments have lower odds...

Hidden from history? A brief modern history of the psychiatric “treatment” of lesbian and bisexual women in England

It is well documented that homosexuality was classified as a mental illness in the DSM until 1973, when it was replaced with the diagnosis of “sexual orientation disturbance”. While it is widely known that homosexual men were criminalised and risked a spell in prison or aversion therapy in a psychiatric hospital (Dickenson, 2013), the class dimension is probably less well known. According to the Queer historian, Chris Waters (2017), it was the more privileged middle class men who were offered aversion therapy, as a “softer” option than jail (Alan Turing being the most prominent example). In contrast, the majority of mostly working class men who were discovered engaging in same-sex relations were more likely to end up in prison, without the offer of “treatment” as an alternative. However, there are aspects of this history we know even less about. Because it is well documented, gay men’s experiences of psychiatric treatment for same-sex attraction have become a dominant historical discourse. But what happened to same-sex attracted women in England (1950–70s) who were not subject to direct court referral routes into psychiatric treatment like their male counterparts? Although female homosexuality was not criminalised in England, it was still, like male homosexuality, officially classified as a mental disorder (“sexual deviation”). As part of a cohort of studies around the theme of sexualities and health funded by the Wellcome Trust, we conducted a bottom-up archival study of women’s and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGB&T) archives in England to investigate this question. Documentation proved to be sparse and fragmented, and what little material we found presented us with numerous challenges to interpretation. A small number of psychiatrists and psychologists had various, often competing, theories about homosexuality and published papers promoting examples of experimental or purportedly successful “treatments”, which they often used to test out their theories. However, it is not clear how much these theories actually influenced practice (Oram and Turnbull, 2001).

Married Women's Wills: Probate, Property, and Piety in Later Medieval England

This article responds to a debate about the clash between canon law and common law positions on whether married women in England could make wills and what freedoms they had in terms of bequeathing property. In particular, it revises the argument that wives largely ceased to make wills c.1450 by arguing that local customs should be given more attention. The article offers a detailed study of the surviving wills in the deanery of Wisbech 1465–77, its linked diocese of Ely 1449–1505, and the probate acta of the Archdeaconry of Buckingham 1483–97, in order to demonstrate that there was regional variation in the decline in married women's will-making. In particular, a focus on court books, which included visitation material alongside the enrolled wills and probate acta, enables more to be said about the kinds of married women who continued to make wills and their motivations. The article argues that in these areas, as well as a continued tendency for wives who had some land or buildings to make wills, married women who had close connections with men who acted as churchwardens or jurors in church courts were also more likely to have their wills proved, even when they had little to bequeath.

Resisting media marginalisation: Black women’s digital content and collectivity

ABSTRACT Based on analysis of 23 interviews, this paper examines how social media and online content is implicated in the collective, resistant and transnational media experiences of Black women in Britain. It contributes to scholarship concerning race and the virtual marketplace by examining tensions between the countercultural, communal and commercial qualities of Black women’s online experiences. Drawing upon theorising of the oppositional spectator gaze of Black women, and narratives of technology consumption, we unpack how Black women’s digital activity can enable them to navigate the hegemony of US content, their marginalisation in British mass-media, and situate them within a Black experience that transcends Britain’s borders. Our work illustrates how Black women’s online encounters can be a source of resistance, Black digital commentary and community, as well as being subject to corporate co-optation. We conceptualise such online experiences as being shaped by transnational dimensions of the relationship between race, media and markets.

Association of ten gastrointestinal and other medical conditions with positivity to faecal occult blood testing in routine screening: a large prospective study of women in England.

BackgroundIn 2006, the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP) in England began offering biennial faecal occult blood testing (FOBt) at ages 60–69 years. Although FOBt is aimed at detecting colorectal neoplasms, other conditions can affect the result. In a large UK prospective study, we examined associations, both before and after screening, between FOBt positivity and 10 conditions that are often associated with gastrointestinal bleeding.MethodsBy electronically linking BCSP and Million Women Study records, we identified 604 495 women without previous colorectal cancer who participated in their first routine FOBt screening between 2006 and 2012. Regression models, using linked national hospital admission records, yielded adjusted relative risks (RRs) in FOBt-positive versus FOBt-negative women for colorectal cancer, adenoma, diverticular disease, inflammatory bowel disease, haemorrhoids, upper gastrointestinal cancer, oesophagitis, peptic ulcer, anaemia and other haematological disorders.ResultsRRs in FOBt-positive versus FOBt-negative women were 201.3 (95% CI 173.8–233.2) for colorectal cancer and 197.9 (95% CI 180.6–216.8) for adenoma within 12 months after screening and 3.49 (95% CI 2.31–5.26) and 4.88 (95% CI 3.80–6.26), respectively, 12–24 months after screening; P < 0.001 for all RRs. In the 12 months after screening, the RR for inflammatory bowel disease was 26.3 (95% CI 19.9–34.7), and ranged between 2 and 5 for the upper gastrointestinal or haematological disorders. The RRs of being diagnosed with any of the eight conditions other than colorectal neoplasms before screening, and in the 12–24 months after screening, were 1.81 (95% CI 1.81–2.01) and 1.92 (95% CI 1.66–2.13), respectively.ConclusionsWhereas FOBt positivity is associated with a substantially increased risk of colorectal neoplasms after screening, eight other gastrointestinal and haematological conditions are also associated with FOBt positivity, both before and after screening.

Infant-feeding practices and infant survival by familial wealth in London, 1752–1812

ABSTRACT Anecdotal evidence indicates that high-status women in England generally did not breastfeed their children in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Metropolitan families of varied social status also often sent their children out of London for wet-nursing. However, anecdotal sources and rural burial registers also suggest that these practices declined rapidly from the mid-eighteenth century, and were replaced by a culture of maternal breastfeeding in all social classes. These changes in infant-feeding practices have been argued to explain much of the dramatic improvement in infant mortality rates in London in this period. Here we used quantitative evidence from a partial family reconstitution of the London parish of St. Martin in the Fields to test these claims. Using birth interval analysis to infer breastfeeding patterns in families by four categories of wealth, we found that birth intervals were close to the national average in pauper and poor families, but much shorter in wealthier families, in the period 1752–74. We also found evidence that many infants especially in wealthier families were missing from observation, consistent with high levels of rural wet-nursing. Both these phenomena declined between 1775 and 1812, suggesting a convergence in breastfeeding practices to the national norm. We used event history analysis, with corrections to aggregate rates for missing infants, to compare mortality rates over time and by wealth category. We found that infant mortality was initially higher in wealthier families, but declined in all groups over the period 1752–1812. We conclude that increases in maternal breastfeeding were probably important in improving survival of infants from wealthier families, however changes in breastfeeding patterns were insufficient to account for the ubiquitous improvements in mortality of urban-born infants in this period.

A Gap Exposed: What Is Known About Sikh Victims of Domestic Violence Abuse (DVA) and Their Mental Health?

There is emerging evidence that Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) has the potential to pose a real threat to the Sikh community as it seeks to ensure that gender equality is embraced within its religious practice. Nevertheless, the interface of domestic abuse and the distress it causes to Sikh female victims in relation to their mental health is barely explored within UK academic literature. From the existing literature on DVA and South Asian women, what we do know is that there may be a denial of the issue within communities due to shame and family exposure. We are aware of the high rates of suicide and self-harm that is prevalent within the South Asian culture, something often attributed to interfamiliar conflict. The pioneering community-led British Sikh Report or BSR (British Sikh Report 2017) surveyed 2000 Sikhs and found that seventy-two percent of Sikh-identifying males and females considered that violence and sexism affected British Sikh women’s lives. Notably, the type of violence was not particularised enough to be able to gain a full understanding and extent of the issue. A further eighty-three percent of male and female participants felt that women should be provided mental health support in Gurdwaras (temples). This grassroot report has been presented to Parliament and was pioneered by local MP’s and is clearly topical in terms of study. To date, we are aware of no UK-based academic study that focuses on the experiences of Sikh victims of abuse. This paper aims to extrapolate key generic studies on domestic abuse in the South Asian culture, in order to help formulate an initial understanding of issues involving domestic violence and mental health as it impacts Sikh women in Britain. Further recommendations for research within this community are presented.