Minoritised Ethnic Women's Experiences of Domestic Abuse and Barriers to Help-Seeking: A Summary of the Evidence

Terminology

Minoritised ethnic women: Many of the terms used to describe racial and ethnic groupings are problematic (Scottish Government, 2023e). Umbrella terms like BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) tend to group racial identities and ethnicities together which can mask any differences^[1]. Such terms also fail to capture how people become minoritised through social processes shaped by power (Milner & Jumbe, 2020) e.g. when they move to the UK.

This report uses the term 'minoritised ethnic' women. Whilst this retains similar limitations to acronyms like BME (black, minority ethnic) or BAME in terms of being an umbrella term, 'minoritised ethnic' "recognises that individuals have been minoritised through social processes of power and domination rather than just existing in distinct statistical minorities." (The Law Society website^[2]). Similar to the term 'racially minoritised' (see Milner & Jumbe, 2020), it recognises the shared experience of visible minority ethnic people who are exposed to discrimination.

It is crucial to note however that 'minoritised ethnic' communities are not homogeneous and will have their own specificities in terms of marginalisation and privilege, as well as individuals' preferred racial and ethnic self-identities. Where possible the report refers to the ethnicity of research participants in the original research studies (e.g. 'South Asian women'). Therefore terminology will vary throughout the report. The use of the overarching term 'minoritised ethnic women' aims to be inclusive of the variety of ways people choose to define themselves and their communities.

Domestic abuse: Domestic abuse is defined as "Any form of physical, verbal, sexual, psychological or financial abuse which might amount to criminal conduct and which takes place within the context of a relationship. The relationship will be between partners (married, cohabiting, civil partnership or otherwise) or ex-partners. The abuse may be committed in the home or elsewhere including online" as defined by Police Scotland and the Crown Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)^[3].

Honour-based Abuse (HBA): The Scottish Government includes so called 'honour-based' abuse in the wider definition of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in its Equally Safe Strategy. It is defined as "honour-based abuse, including forced marriages, female genital mutilation (FGM), dowry abuse and 'honour based' coercive control and killings" (p11). It is understood as a form of GBV which is "justified to protect the so-called honour of a family" (p8) (Scottish Government, 2023b). Abuse that is perpetuated to rectify the perceived loss of family or community honour is often termed as so-called 'honour-based abuse'. The suffix 'so-called' and the quotation marks around the phrase 'honour-based abuse' emphasises that there is no honour in abuse.^[4] Whilst this report uses the abbreviation 'HBA' it is intended that it is understood in this way.

Intersectionality: While there are various definitions used by academics (e.g. Hill Collins & Bilge, 2016) this review recognisesintersectionality as an approach which is "a way of identifying, understanding and tackling structural inequality in a given context that accounts for the lived experience of people with intersecting identities" (Scottish Government, 2022b, p74). By viewing domestic abuse through an intersectional lens, this review recognises that minoritised ethnic women's experiences are shaped by various structural inequalities^[5] and socio-cultural norms^[6] which may not affect majority ethnic white women or not in the same way.