Treatment of abused women from the national minorities - Partial account

2010-05-03

The purpose of this government assignment is to investigate how physically abused women from national minority groups are treated and supported by authorities.

The national minorities in Sweden are Jews, Roma, Sami, Swedish Finns and Tornedalers. The groups vary in terms of size, regional distribution, history and mother tongue, but are united by the fact that their status as a national minority is relatively unknown in Sweden. All of the groups have been present in Sweden for several centuries, but despite this fact, prejudice and negative attitudes towards these groups remain.

The National Public Health Institute conducted two studies during 2009 with the purpose of evaluating the treatment and support given to these women. A questionnaire was sent to authorities that encounter abused women in their work, and an interview study was performed using a sample of 24 abused women from the five minority groups. The results of these two studies will serve as a foundation for proposed measures to be undertaken during the spring of 2010 in collaboration with representatives of the national minority organisations.

A questionnaire for authorities

The authorities (and also municipalities, health and medical services) used for the
questionnaire were the Police, Social Services, Health and Medical Care and Schools. The purpose of the questionnaire was to establish whether those who encounter abused women in their work, or those responsible for issues of gender-based violence (like the Chairman of the Social Welfare service) believe that there ought to be special programmes in place for action, routines or measures undertaken on behalf of women from the national minority groups, or if general efforts for gender equality ought to be reinforced instead. The response rate of the questionnaire was low, with only 39 percent choosing to answer. The answers soon revealed that there was no specific programme in place for action when encountering abused women from the minority groups. Some of the authorities’ representatives said that in general, they wouldn’t know that somebody belonged to a minority group unless the person in question mentioned it herself. Others
said that the existing guidelines cover all women, and that individual needs are already considered as a part of normal procedures.

There is also a felt need for more knowledge about ethnical diversity in work, and many respondents believed that cooperation (between authorities and organisations) could be a successful and important factor for prevention of gender-based violence. Treatment-related issues are considered an essential area of development. Problems within the official administration often concern
interpreters, where it is pointed out that any interpretation on behalf of the woman involved should be performed by somebody other than the person abusing the woman, and also not by another member of her family. Taking this material into account, it can be established that the authorities need more information about gender-based violence in  general (as well as in connection with issues of ethnic diversity), and not primarily in relation to the national minorities.

Conducted interviews

24 in-depth interviews were conducted with abused women from all the different
minority groups. The Jewish group is not representative in the selection, and is not directly represented in the interpretation and analysis. The most important result from the study is that the perceived negative treatment of women from the minority groups is similar to that expressed in complaints made by women in general. There are great variations in their feelings about encounters with people in authority. Sometimes, meetings with particular administrators or other personnel are described as very positive.

The women’s shelters received the most praise from the women in this study. One thing that all of the groups had in common was their critical attitude towards the Social Services, with special mention given to their lack of knowledge about abused women, and their negative treatment of the respondents. Being able to use the language of the national minorities in meetings and consultations is described as a very important issue by all groups. Women from the Sami and Roma groups mentioned negative attitudes and comments directed at the minority from administrators at the Social Services and Police/judicature.

Furthermore, these two groups both have a present history of being
discriminated against by Swedish authorities and society. The majority of the
interviewed women felt that their overall impression of the support offered by the
authorities was negative.

To improve this situation in future, the National Public Health Institute suggests the following areas of development:

• Education of the staff within the Social Services about gender-based violence and issues of treatment.
• Cooperation between authorities and representatives from the national minority
  organisations to attain better knowledge and understanding of ethnical diversity in Sweden.
• Distribution of information about the minority groups directed towards making them, as well as their rights to their language and culture, more visible in society.
• Establishment of support lines for abused women from the Sami and Roma groups.