The Plight of Minority Battered Women: Problem Statement. Research Paper Example.

Women are the ones who bear the brunt of domestic violence in most cases. It even becomes worse if the woman is an African-America. It is unfortunate that the plight of the battered minority woman has been ignored by agencies such as the criminal justice system, health and police that are expected to assist her (Raphael, 2015). Surprisingly, despite the battered minority women going through a lot of physical and psychological pain, most of them still stick to their violent partners despite some interventions (Taha et al., 2015). They thus continue to be battered by their husbands and boyfriends who take advantage of their vulnerability.

The proposed area of study is the plight of the battered minority women. The research will examine why some interventions are better than others in different situations. The battered African-American women have often faced injustices in the way their cases are handled. According to Stockman, Hayashi and Campbell (2015), in most cases, authorities view these women as normal primitives who are naturally prone to violence. In a nutshell, it is assumed that the African-American woman is so used to violence and prejudice that there seems to be nothing wrong with subjecting her to it. This proposal will investigate what hinders the effectiveness of critical initiatives to help a battered minority woman.

Domestic violence places the minority woman at the risk of being seriously injured, tortured and vulnerability to homicide. The problem has existed for quite a long time. Apart from being subjected to racial prejudice by the larger society, many African-American women are battered by their partners due to their vulnerability. A study by Williams (2000) reveals that domestic violence is a major cause of injury for African-American-women aged 15-44 yet they are hesitant in seeking help from facilities such as shelters since, according to them, these services mainly cater for the interests of white women. This belief is founded on the association of shelters with womens movements from which most African-American women are alienated, as well as the isolation of these women in the development and implementation of these facilities (Fischer et al., 2016). In that case, most battered minority women mainly seek assistance from local churches and informal networks. Additionally, the discrepancies in intervention by police, courts, healthcare providers and local communities aggravate the problem. According to Stevens-Watkins et al. (2014), the battered minority woman connects the physical abuse that she faces with racism. She believes that the system is unfair to her partner; thus, triggering rage and violence from within him. Unfortunately, the very system that has oppressed and subjugated her for so long is the only one that can protect her from the abuse.

The current literature on the battered minority women fails to give information on the effectiveness of various interventions to curb the abuse. A study by Taha et al. (2015) for instance, examines the different interventions by various agencies but does not give the extent to which these interventions are effective. This study will, therefore, examine the effectiveness of various interventions and suggest the way forward for future research and involvements.

Finally, this study will be of great benefit to scholars, healthcare providers, police, the criminal justice system, the battered minority women, psychologists, educationists and care facilities. They will be in a position to access information on how best to handle abuse cases, carry out further research and implement preventive measures.

References

Fischer, N. L., Lamis, D. A., Petersen-Coleman, M. N., Moore, C. S., Zhang, H., & Kaslow, N. J. (2016). Mediating effects of existential and religious well-being among abused, suicidal African American women. Journal of family violence, 31(3), 315-323.

Raphael, J. (2015). Saving Bernice: Battered women, welfare, and poverty. Northeastern University Press.

Stevens-Watkins, D., Perry, B., Pullen, E., Jewell, J., & Oser, C. B. (2014). Examining the associations of racism, sexism, and stressful life events on psychological distress among African American women. Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology, 20(4), 561.

Stockman, J. K., Hayashi, H., & Campbell, J. C. (2015). Intimate partner violence and its health impact on ethnic minority women. Journal of Women's Health, 24(1), 62-79.

Taha, F., Zhang, H., Snead, K., Jones, A. D., Blackmon, B., Bryant, R. J., ... & Kaslow, N. J. (2015). Effects of a culturally informed intervention on abused, suicidal African American women. Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 21(4), 560.

Williams, S. (2000). Domestic violence and African American women in rural communities. African American Perspectives, 6, 79-85.