Minority ethnic women's experiences in Scotland 2024: intersectional evidence review

10. Experience of Safety and Violence Against Women and Girls

This chapter considers whether minority ethnic women experience safety, crime, discrimination, harassment, and gender-based violence differently to white Scottish or other British ethnic groups in Scotland. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative evidence has been reviewed for this chapter.

10.1. Experience of Safety

Intersectional statistics from the SCJS dataset from 2021-22, produced for this report, suggest that only about two thirds of both minority ethnic^[67] women and white^[68] women feel safe walking alone in their local area after dark (64.8% and 63.4% respectively). There is no statistically significant difference between these groups. There is, however, a large gap between genders in feelings of safety when walking alone in the dark, regardless of the ethnic background. This indicates that this is an experience shared largely by women as a whole, rather than it being an intersectional issue for minority ethnic women only (minority ethnic women feel 28.3 percentage points less safe than minority ethnic men and white women feel 26.2 percentage points less safe than white men).

There was no statistically significant difference in whether minority ethnic women and white women thought that the crime rate in their local area has gone down or stayed up (71.6% and 73.3%, respectively) nor was there a difference in how confident these groups were that the criminal justice system treats everyone fairly, regardless of who they are (67.5% and 72%, respectively). However, there may be real differences that are not captured by these statistics. The SCJS randomly selects participants from across the entire population, but it is not entirely representative as the result of this design is that relatively few interviews are completed with respondents from a minority ethnic background each year. This means that there is a higher degree of uncertainty around estimates for minority ethnic groups and it is therefore less likely that any differences observed will be statistically significant. As a result, focused research would be required to shed light on this issue and to explore in more detail the differential experiences across intersections, beyond what is explained by some quantitative survey results.

10.2. Experiences of Crime, Discrimination and Harassment

In this sub-chapter a combination of evidence sources was reviewed, including records from Police Scotland and survey responses to the SCJS and SHS.

Based on intersectional analysis of the SCJS results undertaken for this report, in 2021 there was no statistically significant difference in the number of minority ethnic women^[69] and white women^[70] responding to the survey that had experienced a crime.

However, statistics from Police Scotland’s records revealed that while men are more likely than women to be victims of crime in Scotland, a significant number of race aggravated hate crimes are targeted towards women. In 2020-21, out of all race aggravated hate crimes recorded by the police in Scotland, 35% of victims were a single female or an all-female group. In comparison, 60% of victims were a single male or an all-male group, and 3% were a mixed female and male group. This report also notes that underreporting of hate crime is likely among different groups in society, meaning they are more or less likely to report to the police that they have been the victim of a hate crime. For a broad example of this, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) estimated that 29% of all crimes (as defined by the SCJS) were reported to the police in 2021-22. Therefore, the figures above may not be an accurate reflection of experiences of hate crime.

Additionally, according to intersectional statistics from the 2022 SHS analysed for this report, 18% of minority ethnic^[71] women reported that they personally had been unfairly treated or discriminated against in Scotland in the previous 12 months. Only 6% of white Scottish or British women reported this. When asked if they personally experienced harassment or abuse in Scotland in the previous 12 months, 12% of minority ethnic women and 4% of white Scottish or British women responded that they had. These statistics suggest that minority ethnic women may be more likely to experience crime, discrimination and harassment than white Scottish or British women, however these findings would benefit from further research to explore the experiences of disaggregated ethnic groups.

10.3. Experiences of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG)

This sub-chapter relies on qualitative evidence to explore the experiences of VAWG for minority ethnic women due to limitations found in quantitative data reviewed.

Intersectional analysis of the SCJS dataset from 2018-2020 produced for this report indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in experiences of partner abuse, stalking or harassment, or more serious sexual assault between minority ethnic women and white women. In part this is due to the fact that the sample size of respondents from minority ethnic backgrounds is relatively small. This means that there is a high level of uncertainty around estimates for these groups. As a result, should any differences between minority ethnic and white respondents exist, this would be more difficult to detect under the current methodology and sampling.

Looking at a support for women and girls who experience violence or abuse specifically, research conducted by the Improvement Service in 2023, based on workshops with stakeholder organisations who work with minority ethnic women who have experienced VAWG, found that minority ethnic women face a number of barriers^[72]. Stakeholder organisations spoke of situations where perpetrators use legislation around Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to control their wives in abusive relationships (e.g. threaten to accuse women of carrying out FGM to keep them from leaving) and that there is a fear among minority ethnic women to engage with support services due to fears around immigration and asylum laws. The researchers also found that there is a lack of cultural awareness and sensitivity as well as a lack of trust in public services that should be supporting victims/survivors of violence and abuse. For example, the researchers found that Gypsy/Traveller women may not report abuse to specialist organisations for fear of their community finding out they were seeking help or that their children may be taken away from them. In addition, stakeholder organisations spoke about the lack of awareness among some communities, for example where marital rape may not be recognised due to being understood as “our duty as a wife” (Hermat Gryffe Women’s Aid), and more preventative community work is required to support specific groups and families. The research found that institutional racism, inequality and discrimination impacted the ability of minority ethnic women to access services and support, and the paper concluded by making a number of policy recommendations for the Scottish Equally Safe Strategy to improve support.

10.4. Domestic Abuse

Domestic abuse is one form of gender-based violence that disproportionately affects women. This Evidence Review largely draws on qualitative evidence to understand the experiences of minority ethnic women in reporting domestic abuse. Limited quantitative research was available.

Several studies reviewed below highlighted how women with a minority ethnic background have experienced domestic abuse. A systematic review of qualitative evidence (from 2013-14) on disclosure, help seeking and abuse impacting perception of self, highlighted legal and social issues relevant to minority ethnic women experiencing domestic violence and abuse in the UK. Across eight published papers focusing on the experiences of minority ethnic women, evidence showed a number of barriers preventing women from disclosing abuse. Some women felt that they could not report abuse as they had no access to public funds or had limited knowledge of legal entitlement due to their immigration status. Others felt that community influence, such as family dishonour or being shunned, prevented them from reporting abuse. Other factors included language barriers, misinterpretation and male interpreters, as well as unsupportive attitudes of staff within mainstream services based on stereotypes of minority ethnic women. One 2004 paper, cited in the review^[73], specifically highlighted that for South Asian women, disclosure and help-seeking may lead to shame, feeling a loss of identity and dishonour in the community if they were to “walk away from their family” due to domestic violence and abuse. Another paper cited in Gill’s Review^[74], showed that in some cases seeking help among minority ethnic women was deemed necessary for the safety of children and to prevent further escalation of abuse. While a few papers cited in this systematic review spoke about experiences of disaggregated minority ethnic groups, others generally focused on minority ethnic or BME groups. As such further information is required to understand any distinctions between experiences by women of different minority ethnicities.

A report published in 2023 by AMINA, the Muslim Women’s Resource Centre, highlighted that for some minority ethnic women domestic abuse comes at the hands of extended family members.^[75] This was most apparent in South Asian Muslim communities and this type of violence included control and coercion over daughters-in-law’s access to their own children, domestic servitude, and exploitation. This report highlighted that when certain minority ethnic women did try to report this type of domestic abuse, it was often not taken seriously by public services and, crucially, that legislation on domestic abuse focuses only on intimate or ex-partners. As mentioned above, this research highlights the need to understand the potential, and differing, cultural influences on minority ethnic women’s experiences of violence which could feed into local and legislative support.

Research on children living with domestic abuse published in 2023 by Skafida, Devaney, and Morrison looked into how social inequalities in mother and child experiences impacted children’s wellbeing in Scotland. Using logistic regression models this study found that the predicted probability of frequent maternal use of physical chastisement was more frequent with boys compared to girls aged 2-7, regardless of ethnicity. However, in homes where a language other than English was spoken at home (as a proxy measure for ethnicity) the predicted probability of maternal physical chastisement was lowest for girls (19%) and highest for boys (42%).^[76] Further information is required to understand the particular influences on these experiences.

Finally, it is accepted that domestic abuse can have an adverse impact on experiences of unemployment and poverty, leading to financial vulnerability. A Scottish Government focused report on poverty and marginalised groups at risk of poverty highlights the impact that domestic abuse can have on victims/survivors, including (but not limited to) job stability, the ability to keep employment due to trauma, risk of homelessness, and access to financial support and services. As discussed previously, participation in the labour market and experiences of poverty can already disproportionately impacts minority ethnic women, which may increase if there is domestic abuse within the home. Further understanding of research on the links between these issues is required.

Shortly before publication, Scottish Government published an evidence review on Minoritised Ethnic Women’s Experiences of Domestic Abuse and Barriers to Help-Seeking. The report covers more detailed analysis on this topic and findings align with the issues raised in the evidence referenced in this sub-chapter, including a requirement for further intersectional data and research to support policy development.

Summary of evidence:

• Statistical data on experience of safety showed that there may not be intersectional differences, but could be largely based on gender alone.
• Statistical data does suggest that minority ethnic women are more likely to experience crime, discrimination and harassment than white Scottish or British women, however underreporting of hate crime is likely so statistics may not be an accurate reflection of experiences.
• There is a good evidence base of qualitative research available to explore the experiences of violence and domestic abuse against minority ethnic women and girls.

Based on this chapter, what lessons can we learn about analysis and publication of intersectional evidence?

• It is important to consider multiple comparison groups with intersectional data to assess whether issues are intersectional or are more likely to be based on one equality characteristic alone.
• Focused research may be required to shed light on key issues and to explore in more detail the differential experiences across intersections, beyond what is explained by some quantitative survey results particularly where they may not be fully representative or underreporting may occur.