What does this sentence mean? ( DV and ethnicity related)

[creakingwheels]

Domestic abuse disproportionately affects women from minority ethnic groups due to long-standing structural inequalities, which can have adverse effects on mental health

What do you think this is saying?

It's a poorly worded sentence.

Structureal inequalities can mean anything from systemic racism preventing victimes from accessing help/being taken seriously to cultural differences where domestic abuse is seen as normal/acceptable, to the abuser having themselves suffered inequality leading to them taking out their frustrations on their victims.

The mental health bit should be a separate sentence making it clear to whom it refers.

The first part of the sentence refers to the myriad ways women from ethnic minorities are disadvantaged in ways that makes them more likely to be victims. This includes factors from within their communities (divorce unacceptable, expectations of female behaviour, principle that man is leader of family) but also external factors (police less likely to investigate or believe ethnic minority victims, higher threshold for accessing support services, greater overall poverty for many reasons meaning it's harder to leave).

The second part of the sentence is rendered meaningless by poor phrasing, no idea what they are getting at.

Probably it means someone couldn't be bothered properly reviewing the paper they got Chatgpt to write

I think its more likely that its been edited down so much its lost its meaning.

Many minority communities have stigma about mental health. E.g. South Asian communities. So "which can affect mental health" makes sense in that context.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36489893 its not saying other groups (white wonen) dont suffer mental ill health as a result.of DV. But if you were talking about different factors intersecting it's relevant. Plus, women in more isolated minorities (they can feel isolated due to language issues, due to pressure from their own community or fear of racism from wider society or all 3) are more likely to lose their whole support structure if they do leave DV relationships which can exacerbate mental health risks. So you have a perfect storm of issues.

Yes, its such a big topic that if you summarise in a few sentences it leaves the reader trying to work out what they mean specifically. But it's not inaccurate.

This happened in a country outside the UK and a few years ago now, but I called the police on what sounded a lot like DV through the walls and when they spoke to me and I mentioned the neighbours were African (they asked where they were from) they seemed to lose interest and one of them said "aahh that's their culture" so 100% outside attitudes can affect a woman getting help. But she did kick him out the next day so I guess it wasn't her culture.

I read it like this too. I feel this I read it the bit about 'adverse mental health, as being about the mental health of the men. And the structural inequalities were in our society, so racist structural inequalities were causing poor mental health in men, which was causing them to commit DV. takes away their personal responsibility for their behaviour and violent actions..'oh they're only violent and abusive because of xyz.' If that's the case, wouldn't everyone in that situation be committing domestic abuse?

Taking one sentence out a document is a sure way to ensure misinterpretation.

Well it's a terrible sentence as it makes it sound like domestic abuse is somehow in the air, as opposed to not existing until humans, overwhelmingly male, commit it.

And my sentence is terrible too but you get the gist 😊

LIke I said upthread, there really isn't anything around it that makes it clearer, in context.

If it’s talking about intersectionality, it’s referencing the ways in which misogyny and racism combine to impact women. So domestic abuse is prevalent but the structural inequalities present for women who are also people of colour means they face significantly higher levels of adversity, in this case poor mental health.

This, but hidden in word salad for reasons of political correctness.

@inkognitha perfect summaries

When you look into our history and each movement, moment, writing, paper, retaliation, law, war and all the rest that brought us to where we were today, just hasn't happened in so many countries around the world.

And where are we today? Far far along the road but still to be far from proper equality. it's hard to imagine how sexist and misogynist many cultures still are.

i think it’s saying that women from ethnic minorities are at greater risk of MH problems because of their exposure to DV as a result of structural inequalities

As in, they’re twice a vulnerable as the DV and the structural inequalities interact; one increasing the risk of the other but they both impact on MH creating a bigger risk

Yeah. It's trying not to say it but it's saying it.

I read it as BAME women are more at risk of domestic violence/are disproportionately victims of domestic violence, due to systemic disadvantages.

So for example it could be socioeconomic factors that make it harder to leave, or institutional racism in the police that prohibits them reporting violence.

This has a negative impact on their mental health.

To me it means:
These women are disproportionately affected
This is because of structural inequalities such as not being allowed to have jobs, or friends, or the opportunity to learn English: things that could help them out of the DV situation

the "this can have an adverse effect on their mental health" bit, I dont get.
Firstly: because its not CAN, it WILL
Second: because if its the fact that it DISPROPORTIONATELY affects them, why would they care? I doubt a victim of DV is going to fall into a depression due to thinking "this has disproportionately affected me because im not white"

Another thought I had when reading it is where do mixed relationships come into it then? So white men in relationships with women from ethnic minorities or men from ethnic minorities in relationships with white women?

There's a concept called misoynoir - which is the combination of racism and misogyny which BAME women face. As a result of intersectionality there's more barriers in receiving effective care due to structural barriers in police, healthcare, social services when lots of professionals aren't culturally competent.

Black women, for instance, are 3% more likely to report abuse to police but 14% less likely to be referred to support services, showing clear disparities in institutional response. Nearly half (48%) of BAME domestic abuse survivors felt the police treated them differently because of their ethnicity, reflecting a wider pattern of institutional racism that deters reporting and skews victim support.

This is exacerbated by the decline of specialist BAME services; down by around 45% since 2017 - despite ongoing demand. Within healthcare, these women face additional barriers; racist stereotypes, like the "strong Black woman" trope, make them seem less in need of care and lead to their distress being minimised or misinterpreted. Mental health symptoms are frequently reframed as aggression or non-compliance rather than valid expressions of trauma, contributing to the under-recognition of disorders such as PTSD or depression. When in crisis, many Black women are criminalised rather than supported, frequently being perceived as perpetrators rather than victims. This fits a broader pattern where BAME individuals are disproportionately sectioned under the Mental Health Act, typically through police involvement, due to systemic failures in primary care and trauma services.

As a result, many women from minoritised backgrounds are reluctant to report abuse at all, fearing disbelief or punitive responses which are valid fears grounded in experience of racism inbuilt into institutions with eurocentric frameworks.

I think it's trying to excuse DV by minority ethnic men, on the grounds that their mental health is poor because of inequalities in British society, rather than because of inequalities in some communities, where women have few rights, and DV is normalised.

So not the perpretators fault, not the fault of communities where women would be shamed for contacting police or leaving their abuser, but a fault of society.

In trying so hard to pass no judgement on certain ethnic minority communities, we don't identify the real causes of high DV rates, and therefore can't take any steps to actually reduce the DV rate in these communities, through education and suppory for victims.

Cultural sensitivity like this does no favours for women and children in these commumities.

Its interesting reading yoir post right after the one that came before it!

This is because of structural inequalities such as not being allowed to have jobs, or friends, or the opportunity to learn English: things that could help them out of the DV situation

The structural inequalities are the response from police, social work and health services to women who report domestic abuse. The lack of culturally aware services and infrastructure to support. All the things you mention are of course relevant but structural racism compounds them.