Diasporic Challenges, Domestic Abuse and Patriarchal Norms Experienced by Migrant Pakistani Women in Australia

This article examines diasporic challenges, domestic abuse and patriarchal ideologies that constitute unique diasporic lives of first-generation migrant married Pakistani women (MPW) in Australia. For this qualitative study, 21 MPW residing in Australia were recruited for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Results from the interpretative phenomenological analysis of data revealed the diasporic encounters MPW face in Australia and the influence of patriarchal ideology on their lives in navigating those encounters. MPW’s responses to patriarchal norms in their married lives fell on a spectrum, which include conformation to the norms of patriarchal familial structures on the one side and resistance and bargaining against these structures on the other. On either side of the spectrum, whether to conform or to resist, women make decisions that they consider to be sensible. Implications of these findings for social policy and social development suggest culturally informed practices, awareness among the community about the prevalence of abuse and multi-perpetration, and the structural challenges that deskill immigrant women’s skills and qualifications.