Root Causes of Domestic Violence Among BAME Women in Coventry

The aim of this research is to analyse the impact and prevalence of domestic violence amongst the BAME women in the UK, particularly in Coventry, and to discover the support and intervention services that are currently existing in that area, as well as the issues that women may face in accessing those services. 

The literature reviews the impact of domestic violence on various social determinants of health such as religion, language barrier, culture and social economic factor.

The current chapter discusses the issue of domestic violence caused on black, Asian and ethnic minority women in Coventry. There are a number of root causes which have contributed to the social degradation of the women residing in Coventry. As commented by Sandhu and Stephenson (2015), domestic violence is both a cause and repercussion of gender inequalities within the society. It stems from sexist, racist and other discriminatory attitude present within the society. As supported by Brah  et al. (2015), the incidents of abuse in the ethnic minority community is compounded by the lack of sufficient help channels. Reports and evidences have further suggested that the women lie at the centre of physical, sexual, financial, psychological and emotional abuses (Sandhu et al. 2013). Some of these are experienced in the form of forced marriage, female genital mutilation and honour based violence.  As mentioned by Brah  et al. (2015),  culture, language, family structure and racism are few of the factors which have a direct relation to the abuse faced by the BAME women. One of the root causes for the domestic violence faced by the BAME women is due to the social inequality present within the community. The BAME women suffer from disproportionate representation in low paid or insecure employment. The inequalities could strongly be attributed to the cuts introduced by the government, which could cost the residents of the Coventry region £112 million per year (Sandhu et al. 2013).  The women in the Coventry region suffer from high unemployment rates owing to a number of issues such as family, child care, language, community, societal barriers, racism and discrimination. The BAME women suffer due to lower rates of education suffer from language issues, which serves a major hindrance for them. This prevents them from communicating with the concerned channels for help resulting in them being subjected to more abuses. The culture and community paradoxes also serve   as a major hindrance where the some of the women of Asian origin are restricted with regards to making their job preferences. As mentioned by (Nightingale and Cromby 2017), women belonging to the black minority and ethnic group are often discriminated based upon their skin colour. Most of the times, they have to face societal neglect and disregard owing to their skin colours. Additionally, the lack of stable and secure jobs makes them more prone to domestic abuses. The   cuts on some of the government features such as education maintenance allowance  (EMA) has resulted in higher education charges,  which has lowered the  number of higher education enrolments of the BAME women living in the Coventry region.  As mentioned by Brah  et al. (2015), the lack of  a strong source of income or a financially stable condition has resulted in many women being subjected to domestic violence. This is because under these conditions the women are dependable amongst the earning member of the family. On the contrary Muehlenhard and Kimes (2014), many ethnic and minority community women believe that going outside for work may disrupt their family life and put their children at higher risk of neglect. Reports and evidences have suggested that the women occasionally have to wait longer for getting enrolled in English for Speakers of other language (ESOL) courses. Panagarh is the specialist services, which provides support services for BAME women who have suffered violence and abuse in Coventry lost £300k a year for their refugee provision to Leicester (Schneider 2016). This had a huge impact upon the staffing and services available for BAME women living in Coventry. Additionally, Coventry rape and sexual abuse centre lost funding from the human rights commission, which leads to unsuccessful trial and prosecution of offenders. Hence, lack of sufficient education and economic facilities can be stated to be one of the root causes of distress for BAME women residing in Coventry.

Impact of Domestic Violence on BAME Women in Coventry

A lot of times women play the role of “shock-absorbers” in the family when faced with crisis. They tend to manage a financial crisis by reducing the amount of supplies from their own share. The pressure of the family is directly taken out on women by the masculine figures of the family. This causes the practice of domestic violence as a direct result of budget reductions and this becomes a norm in the BAME society (Sandhu Stephenson and Harrison 2013). The impact being reduced health due to physical or mental oppression as well as inability to have access to proper nutrition. The impact of domestic violence is not only physical injury but also impacts the mental and physical well being of the BAME community women over long periods of time. The psychological effects of these violent actions lead to many mental illness like depression, anxiety and isolation. The result of domestic violence is that it leaves the affected women in a constant state of fear, makes them prone to night terrors, sleeplessness chronic hypertension, post traumatic stress disorder and self harming conditions (Leeds.gov.UK. 2017). Many women are forced to run away from their homes and live in isolation due to domestic violence. Many women also are forced to quit their jobs, schools and colleges as a result of domestic violence (Hubbard Payton and Robinson 2013). Many families abuse the younger females as a part of honour violence, which occurs when the family members try to protect a perception of honour with respect to their religious belief by seeking to behavioural control on the female members (Wiper 2012). This practice is mainly done on women when they fail to meet a certain cultural moral or practice. Domestic violence is most prominent in women with ethnic background and immigrant families who have a different perception of family expectations and gender role biasness, which is why if any of those expectations were not met, the abusers succumbed to physical or mental abuse. Elderly women also directly influenced from the domestic violence due to lack of financial support and their inability to physically provide labour. This impacts the death of elderly women in the BME community. Domestic violence is largely responsible for reducing the self-confidence of women and lowering their self esteem as well as induces and false sense of guilt for not being able to meet the expectation of their families. Eating disorders are also common in women of the BME community due the impact of domestic violence and leads to either malnutrition or obesity in the affected women. Women who have separated from their abusive partner receive little or no help from their previous partners for raising the child or other responsibilities. Certain times these women are threatened using law enforcements by their partners to take away their child from the mothers (Thiara and Gill 2012). 

Current Support and Intervention Services for BAME Women in Coventry

According to the statistics provided by the official website, Asian population comprises of 16.3% of the total population after the 2011 census report. Black African population comprises of 5.6% and other ethnicities hold 1.6% of the population in the updated march reports. The total BME population holds about 33.4% of the total population. For years, the United Kingdom government have failed to address the needs of the women under the BAME group who constantly face discrimination and injustice in the hands of the society. According to a report provided by a social service organization called Sisters. For a Change, domestic homicide is more common for BAME women than other races (Equality and Diversity Forum 2016). The suicide rates among women of this community are three times higher than other ethnicities. BAME women are 50% more susceptible to violence by multiple abusers than women of other ethnicities.  It is estimated that 40% of the BAME women live in poverty where dwelling conditions have low sanitation. The women of this community do not receive proper legislation support when they contact authorities against their abusers. As of 2016, the arrest rate of abusers has fallen down to 16% due to lack of legal governance. Only 37% of women file legal complaint against domestic violence in the BAME community. 56% of women who have separated from their partners are subjected to violence out of which only 9% lodge complaint against their abusers. The whole situation has outraged welfare organizations globally, so much so that the high commissioners of the United Nations to call upon the UK government to arbitrarily take legal executional actions against domestic abusers and provide safety and protection as well as shelters for the victims (DomesticviolenceUK.org. 2018). There have also been reports of cultural, racial and ethnic discrimination cases against the BAME women, which has made the government pay importance to the cultural appropriation and perceived stereotyping.

The social constructionism theory focuses upon some of the shared beliefs and opinions of the society which forms the basis of an oppressive mind.  As mentioned by Bassel and Emejulu (2018), the men are not only seen as the perpetrators of crime and violence against women; they are also the primary consumers of entertainment with violent themes. As per the male chauvinistic society any form of domination is to be considered humility. The female on the other hand in spite of their presumed inferiority control access to the physical commitments, which challenges the falsified notions held by the male society.  Therefore, failure to accept the dominance, men has more than often been seen to oppress the women within the society in one or the other forms. As mentioned by Schneider (2016), love is seen as a sign of weakness and therefore the men deny expressing it beyond a certain point. Through times immemorial caring and household has been embodied with the weaker section of the society as it does not need much of a bullfight (Bassel and Emejulu 2018). Hence, women are the main carers and their role is restricted within the four walls of their residence. The stereotypes built by the social mirrors say that the men are the sole bread earners and the protector of the family. The shared beliefs have diminished the role of the women within the society. Additionally, economic and social segregation also results in the build up of negative emotions or frustrations within the society.

Social Determinants of Health and Domestic Violence Among BAME Women

Additionally, the social constructionism theory places importance on the existence of stereotype gender roles where the women are assumed to play the role  of a housekeeper and a child bearer rather than demanding equal rights within the society. The masculine structures within the downtrodden society have been greatly affected by some of these economic cuts resulting in sudden loss of employment. The societal pressure and the liabilities of family further make the men more violent and strenuous in their approaches; hence Women as seen as soft targets more than often the subjecting them to misplaced anger.  As commented by Stephenson (2016), the falsified social norms have significantly contributed to women playing the victims of misplaced anger.  Additionally, there have been cuts, changes in relation to legal advice affecting the rate of justice provisions to the BAME women living in the Coventry region. The Coventry city council has been struggling to meet the demand of employee allowance support programs.  In the current decade there has been a lot of talk and discussion regarding women empowerment. However, economic cuts related to laws and legislations have severely affected the freedom of livelihood of the BAME community women living in the Coventry region. However as argued by Nightingale and Cromby (2017), women are not always to be treated as helpless victims of the social instruments. As supported by Muehlenhard and Kimes (2014), women within the most adverse conditions have often been able to put up the most brilliant fight for their human rights. On the contrary, some of the women within the ethnic group have expressed their desire to stay in an abusive relationship for the sake of social security as well as the anxiety regarding social acceptance. As mentioned by Nightingale, D. and Cromby (2017), some of the important services employed by the UK government such as Coventry rape and sexual abuse centre (CRASAC) are unable to help the BAME women residing in the remotest of the areas as they are unwilling to open up regarding their abusive stories.  As mentioned by Sandhu  et al. (2013), the society plays the wrong card where the victimized is ashamed and the accused is seen as the one possessing more power. 

From time immemorial, the role of women within the society has been restricted to certain themes such as the nurturer, resilient, obedient, dependent wife. These are the stereotyped roles based upon the aspects of social constructionism. The society associates the wellbeing of the children as the sheer responsibility of the mother. As mentioned by Muehlenhard and Kimes (2014), the children are thought to be explicitly connected to the mother. Therefore, inflicting harm upon the children could also force the mother to comply with the unjust behaviour of their male partners. The BAME women are often restricted to making their career choices owing family liabilities and the responsibilities of children.  The societal norms have further enforced the aspect of resilience within the women. However as argued by Bassel and Emejulu (2018), there are marked differences between the approaches of women in the eastern and western community. In the western countries, some of the women have been seen to raise strong voices against the oppression imposed upon them by their male partners. However, as argued by Frankenburg (2012), women within the Asian community have been seen to be reluctant in raising their voices against the abuses imposed upon them by their male partners.  Some of these have been justified by strong community beliefs and paradoxes, which restricts the women from approaching the justice channels. As commented by Best (2017), the women have been afraid to approach the right justice channels due to the fear of social rejection. Some of the BAME community women have been overly dependent upon the male members of the family for money and social security and attributes themselves entitled to the services of the family owing to the monetary security, which they are getting from their families. Therefore, resilience has been associated with liabilities in this case.

Cultural Appropriation and Perceived Stereotyping of BAME Women

The roles of the BAME Coventry women have been cut down by a number of social instruments such as restricted housing, educational and employment opportunities. Therefore, the women have little or no social roles to play and are confined to the fine geometry of their homes. Reports and evidenced have suggested that most of the ethnic minority communities live in deprived areas with poor living conditions and large families. Therefore, the sole responsibility lies on the shoulders of the women to prepare and cook meal for the large family. As mentioned by (Schneider 2016), the large family options leave the women with little or no time to look after their own well being. Hence, the role has been limited to that of an obedient and dependent wife.

The aspect of domestic violence on the BAME community women residing in Coventry could be explained with the help of the socio-ecological model. The  socio-ecological model could be further divided in a number of attributes such as – societal, community, relationship , individual etc. the first  level is the individual level  which is based upon   past life experiences and history abuse. This further shapes the attitudes and beliefs at the individual level which makes one a victim of oppression. As mentioned by Lindsey (2015), conflicts within families and resentful behaviour have been further seen to result in dysfunctional families where the weak suffers from neglect and abuse from the strong. The third level is the community level, which either support or inhibits the progression of such incidents of domestic violence. As commented by Sandhu and Stephenson (2015), an indifferent social community has been seen to increase the rates of such crimes whereas a responsible and aware society has been to reduce the rate of such crimes. The community structure is again affected by shared thoughts or beliefs.  As commented by Hing  et al. (2017), the  environment modifies the thoughts and perceptions of an individual and vice versa. Therefore, the social paradoxes and beliefs have been seen to play a greater role over here. The fourth and the final aspect are the societal factors which have been seen to influence the function and beliefs of the community to a larger extent. Some of these are – health, economy and education.  One of the most influential factors over here is the economic condition of the society. As mentioned by Islam  et al. (2015), the BAME women have been affected hugely due to the economic cut down restricting  their access to education, health , law. Therefore, one of the most effective ways to resolve the issue is by bringing forth changes within the economic policies and thereby increasing the access to resources of the BAME Community women. 

Social Constructionism Theory and Domestic Violence Against BAME Women

As commented by Hing  et al. (2017), social conditioning and upbringing plays a larger role in influencing the pattern and beliefs of individual.  Reports and evidences have proved that the women who have grown up in an abusive and dominated environment are mostly resilient in their attitude of handling and management of adversities. Additionally, less support from the society and family has also been seen to affect the overall though patterns of individuals. As asserted by Islam  et al. (2015), limited  access to education and employment resources has been further seen to results in a regressive community and  society. Therefore, education and change in government policies could be helpful in bringing about the required amount of changes.

For gathering sufficient resources and knowledge some of the secondary journals and articles have been searched.  Some of the effective databases which have been used in this regard are NCBI, PUBMED and ELSEVIER etc.  Exclusive keywords have been used to gather sufficient literary sources such. Additionally, the journals printed in any other vernacular languages have been excluded and only the ones published in the last ten years have been taken into consideration.

Domestic violence and its consequences on the larger society 

Domestic violence is increasing at an alarming rate across the globe and impacts the life of the victims making them not only physically and mentally distressed but also impacts the life of children who witness the act. Almost 90% of the domestic violence cases happen in front of children and adolescents. These children are observed to perform substantially low, face health issues and even face premature fatality (Leeds.gov.UK, 2017). More than 5 billion dollars are spent each year for the treatment of these illness as well as loss of more than 8 million revenue losses due to absenteeism caused by domestic violence cases (Nealon-Woods, 2018). This makes up to form a society where the future generation is not completely fit and grow up with mental disorders. The adolescents also succumb to substance abuse and become addicted as well as commit crimes to forget their traumatic past. The children who face difficulty while concentrating in school often grow up and face employment issues due to lack of good grades. All this impact the formation of a deprived community that will constantly revolve around the loop of poverty and discrimination. The political impact of domestic violence in the UK is also noticeable as of late, the government is trying their best to make policy and legislative decisions to protect the women of their country and provided much support in building a better future. The launch of the Big Society Agenda has yet to be implemented in shaping Britain’s closed door problems and give rise to the idea of Neoliberalism where women are granted more active rights and provided safer future (Ishkanian 2014).

Lack of Legal Governance Against Domestic Violence Among BAME Women

Asylum seekers BAME women 

The effect of domestic violence has massive physical and mental stress for which the victims, mostly women of ethnic or minority backgrounds tends to seek refuge in different countries or asylums for safety. This is evident in the BAME community in Coventry UK. many women has been reported to flee their homes after facing gender specific violence from family members. A vast array of violence like physical abuses, rape, female genital mutilation and honour specific violence have made the women succumb to fleeing their houses and live elsewhere or in homeless conditions. UK based research showed that asylum seeking, immigrant and refugee women are more like to be exposed to domestic violence than native born women due to vulnerability, language barriers and poverty. Oftentimes, the immigration status of the women becomes a barrier to many support and services than native born women. The asylum system also fails to provide these women proper shelter and show a lack of sensitivity towards, and understanding of, women’s claims for asylum requirement within a system which has historically been geared towards male experiences (Hubbard, Payton and Robinson, 2013).

Stoichiometric evaluation of the research problem 

The BAME women residing in the Coventry region had recorded unemployment rates as high as 74.4% between the year 2009 and 2013. As reported the work program in Coventry has failed in finding sufficient job opportunities for the BAME women.  Of  280 referrals of women of ethnic minority groups none had been able to land a job. The increase in unemployment varied from 28% among Asian women to 160% percent in mixed ethnicity women (safetotalk.org.uk 2018). The cuts and changes in welfare scheme affected the BAME women hugely as 40% households had one or the other women who belonged to the BAME group. On the health frontier, the scenario had been grieving where there had been increased waiting times at hospital corridors leading to cancellation of appointments along with lack of medical interpreters at hospitals.  As reported by coventrytelegraph.net (2018), most of the BAME women living in Coventry were unaccustomed in English. Hence, the presence of a medical interpreter would have made explaining the health conditions as well as receiving the medical services easier for them. Additionally, the housing allowances were cut by 30% which affected the BAME women with large families (Beebeejaun 2017). Reports and evidences have suggested the annual cost of domestic violence in Coventry to rise to £34.8 million whereas humans and emotional costs expected to rise by £60 million (safetotalk.org.uk 2018). The economic cuts introduced by the coalition government will cost the women in Coventry £76 million a year out of a total of £112 million (coventrytelegraph.net 2018). The layers of inequality are expected to hit the BAME women the most. Hence, the poor social standing of the BAME women residing in Coventry further exposes them to domestic violence.  As commented by Widom and Wilson (2015), the poor economical condition further makes the women and the children further dependent upon the males of the society.

Call for Legal Action and Shelters for Domestic Violence Victims in BAME Community

Mental and physical health of BAME women 

It is no surprise that the women of the BAME community are at more health risk than native women. They are seven times more like to die prematurely than non native women according to the Equality and human rights cooperation in UK. Inequality in health and wellness among the BAME women could be a result of many social determinants like financial state, educational qualification, employment, residential area psychological stress, societal pressures and language barriers, discrimination and lack of access to healthcare services. Various health services have showed that the BAME community are more commonly affected by health issues and are hospitalised for those issues than native white communities from a young age. The word health conditions are observed in these communities with special mention of the Caribbean community who experience mental illness issues more commonly. Research have shown that Hypertension and other complications related to it are the reason that causes and its complications are responsible for causing nearly two times as more fatality amongst Caribbean-born people than the general population. It is also observed that 40% of the Caribbean people have diabetes and hypertension. People with black ethnic background are more likely to develop prostate cancer according to researchers. The table shows the number of ailments among the BAME population. The women of the BAME community are also no exception to this rule and along with obesity face the effects of diabetes. These women are generally over forty years of age and belong to Asian and African populations in the UK. Another important health condition among the women of BAME community is arthritis, which is about 24.3% more common than men and it affects all age group irrespective of racial and ethnic backgrounds. This condition is common in women who have obesity and have a tendency to develop osteoarthritis in 60% obese women (AccmUK.com, 2015).

According to the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) of 2014, one out of six adults from the BAME community suffer from mental illness like anxiety or depression every week and one in five adults have been observed to attempt to commit suicide at some point of their life.  The women of this community have accepted the fact there is a certain social stigma when it comes to accepting mental health treatment. One third of the people receive proper diagnosis due to this fact and the rest have remained untreated. According to the survey by the APMS, there is huge gap between the mental health statistics within men and women.  Women between the age gap of 16 to 24 are thrice as much susceptible to develop a common type of mental illness than males within the community which makes up to 26% women of the BAME and only 9% males in the community. These women are more likely to develop self-harming tendencies, bipolar disorders, post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety due to ill effects of social determinants of health and domestic violence (Mental Health Foundation, 2016).

Impact of Monetary Cuts on BAME Women in Coventry

Government initiatives for protection of BAME women 

The UK government has a four P method to addressing the issue of the BAME women problems: Prepare Prevent, Protect and Pursue. The UK government has initiated the Violence against Women and Girls Strategy (VAWG) 2016-2020, which has a projected goal to reduce the prevalence of domestic abuse amongst the women of the community (Sandhu Stephenson and Harrison 2013). They tend to challenge the belief of the ethnic groups regarding the practice and belief of the perpetrators and creating awareness among the women and children of the community. A general estimation was made to get the cost of court settlements for domestic violence cases, which was found to be £3.856 billion annually out of the local government paid £479 million (Nealon-Woods 2018). Since the BAME population has been observed to have worse health issues than native women, for which government of UK is trying hard to develop health policies, which will diminish the inequalities of health benefits amongst the deprived community. Another initiative called the Tackling Inequalities in Health –A Programme for Action was initiated in 2003 which also aims to close the gap between the women of ethnic backgrounds and focus on saving the infants after birth and increase life expectancy of the deprived communities. The Wales Migration Partnership (WMP) is funded by the Home Office and Welsh Government and is based at the Welsh Local Government Association (Wiper 2012). The Partnership is funded to enable strategic and political oversight on migration, and to provide an independent leadership, advisory and coordinating body on migration in Wales. This report sets out the UK Government’s overarching approach to advancing gender equality and our determination to eliminate discrimination. It explains the changes introduced by the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act) in Great Britain and outlines the main elements of the Government’s Equality Strategy, “Building a Fairer Britain”, published in December 2010: the UK?s first ever cross-Government equality strategy. The UK government is trying their best to close the gap between the deprived community women and the advantage received by the native women. The government to help these women when they seek help has built many shelter homes. Healthcare centres are being built to aid these women and get the necessary treatment for their ailing problems. The government has built many low lost efficient dwelling areas and has sought to provide opportunities for the BAME community women and children to help them improve their economic status (Hubbard and Robinson 2018). Awareness campaigns are beings et to educate the women and children regarding the rights they have and motivating them to stand up against the inequality and receive as much help they can from the government. 

Role of Women and Men in Domestic Violence Against BAME Women

Discussion of research gaps

A number of research gaps were found while conducting the study such as the lack of sufficient number of books and journals from were exact references to the situations could be made. Additionally, the lack of sufficient government reports on the BAME community further made the analysis difficult for the researcher. Most of the literature sources cited by the researcher discussed regarding the impacts of the domestic violence upon the BAME community women. However, very few of the journals or articles could actually identify the cause for the high rates of domestic violence amongst the BAME community women settled in the Coventry region. There was a lack of clear understanding regarding the cause for the government inaction or the economic cuts made, which drastically impacted the life of the ethnic and minority communities. Additionally, domestic violence has been cited as the main reason for women suffering within the BAME community (Burnett 2017). However, the study sources failed to take into consideration the different societal processes or factors which aggravated the phenomenon of such discrimination within the community. Additionally, there had not been much peer reviewed articles or journals based upon the problem identification and solving of the BAME community women (Thompson  et al. 2016). Additionally, the lack of effective government reports made analysis difficult for the researcher. Therefore, the literature review had been synthesized based upon a number of comparative and contrasting literature sources to put a well balanced review of the societal condition from an economical as well as social perspective.

Conclusion 

The literature makes it clear that there is morbid inequality in the rights of women from the Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic background women, and has been so for the past hundred years. Social determinants of health have deprived these women from the basic livelihood requirements and made them susceptible to domestic violence. Financial inequality, racial discrimination, education impairment, perceptive morality amongst ethnic groups has oppressed these women, which has caused them various mental and physical health issues. The physical issues because of domestic violence are susceptibility to obesity, diabetes, hypertension and arthritis. The mental health issues which come as a consequence of domestic violence are post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, hypertension, depression, low self esteem etc. Many women have succumbed to self-harm and sought after suicidal tendencies. The children of these families witness the acts of violence, which tend to scar them for life, leaving them with depression, lack of concentration, fear and by the time they reach adolescence, they are more likely to succumb to drug abuse. The government is trying their best to help these women overcome their mental and physical well-being and setting up healthcare facilities, developing legislative regulations and policies to grant them the rights of humanity. Welfare organizations also play an important role in taking a step into the betterment of the lives of BAME women, and help these women shelter and other necessities. 

Honour Violence Against BAME Women in Coventry

References 

Accmuk.com. (2015). Common ailments amongst black, asian, minority ethnic communities in bedford. [online] Available at: https://www.accmuk.com/docs/39_Health_Report_2015_-_Report.pdf [Accessed 1 Apr. 2018].

Bassel, L. and Emejulu, A., 2018. Caring subjects: migrant women and the third sector in England and Scotland. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41(1), pp.36-54.

Beebeejaun, Y., 2017. Gender, planning and epistemic injustice. In Decentring Urban Governance (pp. 77-98). Abingdon: Routledge.

Best, J., 2017. Typification and social problems construction. In Images of issues (pp. 3-10). Routledge.

Brah, A., Szeman, I. and Gedalof, I., 2015. introduction: feminism and the politics of austerity, pp.105-159.

Burnett, J., 2017. Racial violence and the Brexit state. Race & Class, 58(4), pp.85-97.

coventrytelegraph.net 2018, coventrytelegraph.net , available at : https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/domestic-abuse-reported-west-midlands-10916915

Domesticviolenceuk.org. (2018). The Effects of Domestic Violence on Women – Domestic Violence UK. [online] Available at: https://domesticviolenceuk.org/the-effects-of-domestic-violence-on-women/ [Accessed 1 Apr. 2018].

Frankenburg, R., 2012. White women, race matters: The social construction of whiteness. Abingdon: Routledge, pp.45-65.

Hing, N., Nuske, E. and Breen, H., 2017. A review of research into problem gambling amongst Australian women. Gambling Disorders in Women: An International Female Perspective on Treatment and Research, p.235.

Hubbard, A., Payton, J. and Robinson, A. (2013). Unchartered Territory- Violence against migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women in Wales. [online] Orca.cf.ac.uk. Available at: https://orca.cf.ac.uk/64055/1/Hubbard%2C%20Payton%20and%20Robinson%20%282013%29%20Uncharted%20Territory.pdf [Accessed 1 Apr. 2018].

Ishkanian, A., 2014. Neoliberalism and violence: The Big Society and the changing politics of domestic violence in England. Critical Social Policy, 34(3), pp.333-353.

Islam, Z., Markham, S. and Faull, C., 2015. Raising the profile of palliative care services for BAME groups within Leicester city: Challenges with recruiting and training volunteers. Diversity & Equality in Health & Care, 12(3).

Leeds.gov.uk. (2017). The impact of domestic violence. [online] Available at: https://www.leeds.gov.uk/domesticviolence/the-impact-of-domestic-violence [Accessed 1 Apr. 2018].

Lindsey, L.L., 2015. Gender roles: A sociological perspective. Abingdon: Routledge, pp.125-175.

Mental Health Foundation. (2016). Fundamental Facts about mental health 2016. [online] Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/fundamental-facts-about-mental-health-2016 [Accessed 1 Apr. 2018].

Muehlenhard, C.L. and Kimes, L.A., 2014. The social construction of violence: The case of sexual and domestic violence. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), pp.234-245.

Nealon-Woods, M. (2018). The Realities of Domestic Violence and Its Impact on Our Society. [online] HuffPost. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-nealonwoods/domestic-violence_b_8316888.html [Accessed 1 Apr. 2018].

Nightingale, D. and Cromby, J., 2017. Social constructionist psychology: A critical analysis of theory and practice. McGraw-Hill Education (UK), pp.212-235.

safetotalk.org.uk 2018, safetotalk.org.uk , Available at : https://www.safetotalk.org.uk/professionals/statistics/

Sandhu, K. and Stephenson, M.A., 2015. layers of inequality—a human rights and equality impact assessment of the public spending cuts on black asian and minority ethnic women in Coventry. feminist review, 109(1), pp.169-179.

Sandhu, K. and Stephenson, M.A., 2015. layers of inequality—a human rights and equality impact assessment of the public spending cuts on black asian and minority ethnic women in Coventry. feminist review, 109(1), pp.169-179.

Sandhu, K., Stephenson, M.A. and Harrison, J., 2013. Layers of inequality. A human rights and equality impact assessment of the public spending cuts on black, Asian and minority ethnic women in Coventry, pp.56-68.

Sandhu, K., Stephenson, M.A. and Harrison, J., 2013. Layers of inequality. A human rights and equality impact assessment of the public spending cuts on black, Asian and minority ethnic women in Coventry.

Schneider, J.W., 2016. Social problems theory: The constructionist view. Annual review of sociology, 11(1), pp.209-229.

Stephenson, M.A., 2016. Feminist Challenges to Austerity. Globalizations, 13(6), pp.915-918.

Thiara, R. and Gill, A., 2012. Domestic violence, child contact, post-separation violence: Experiences of South Asian and African-Caribbean women and children, executive summary. London: NSPCC.

Thompson, W.E., Hickey, J.V. and Thompson, M.L., 2016. Society in focus: An introduction to sociology. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, pp.28-39.

Widom, C.S. and Wilson, H.W., 2015. Intergenerational transmission of violence. In Violence and mental health (pp. 27-45). Springer, Dordrecht.

Wilson, F.M., 2016. 7 Women in management in the United Kingdom. Women in Management Worldwide: Signs of Progress, p.91.

Wiper, C., 2012. Responding to violence against South Asian women in the British domestic violence movement. Graduate Journal of Social Science, 9(3).