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This paper looks at the experiences of first‐generation South Asian women who entered the UK to marry and then suffered domestic violence. It is based on an innovative and collaborative trans‐national project, carried out in two stages. In the first stage, a range of immigrant South Asian women, who had experienced domestic violence, were consulted. This consultation aimed to ascertain what they believed would have been useful information, if available prior to immigration, about the UK and the life they might expect there, including what might happen in cases of marital discord and difficulties. The second stage of the project consisted of feeding that information back through meetings and consultations to relevant women's and state agencies in India, including the police, the media and women's organisations. While there is no evidence to suggest that immigrant black, minority ethnic and refugee women experience more domestic violence than majority white women, their experiences of abuse are different due to cultural factors, language, immigration status and lack of contact with natal families. The paper makes key recommendations on policy developments that would assist women in this situation, raising the voices of South Asian immigrant women in the UK, and highlighting their views and advice for policy‐makers and for other women considering such marriages.

Even though an increasing number of British South Asian women have moved into paid employment over the years as a reflection of social and cultural mobility and change, their work‐family experiences are not widely reported. This paper examines the experiences of British South Asian full‐time managerial or professional women combining work and family life. A qualitative study based in the north‐west of England was conducted utilising semi‐structured interviews with 17 women. Five themes are discussed: cultural influences on domestic responsibilities; additional responsibilities and commitments to extended family and community members; work‐family priorities and “superwoman syndrome”; stereotypes of roles and responsibilities at work; and experiences of discrimination. Managerial or professional British South Asian women are subjected to the same cultural family commitments and expectations as other non‐professional British South Asian working women. Practical implications of the findings are related to managing diversity approaches and organisational culture change.

Background: suicide prevention is a priority for health services in England. A high rate of suicide in South Asian women and a dramatic rise in young Afro‐Caribbean's has been reported in the UK.Aims: the aim of this selected review is to present the cultural context of suicidal behavior and possible preventive strategies for the South Asian and Afro‐Caribbean's living in the UK.Methods: relevant data about the cultural context of suicidal behavior in the two ethnic groups is reviewed.Findings: our findings suggest that socio‐cultural factors in women of South Asian origin and social risk factors and situational stress in Afro Caribbean's appears to be related to acts of self‐harm.Conclusions: we could not identify any published studies of effective suicide prevention strategies or on any treatment programmes for the two ethnic minority groups. Addressing the cultural, linguistic and religious need of these groups should be of paramount importance.

In May 2012, nine men from the Rochdale area of Manchester were found guilty of sexually exploiting a number of underage girls. Reporting on the trial, the media focussed on the fact that eight of the nine men were of Pakistani origin, while the girls were all white. It also framed similar cases in Preston, Rotherham, Derby, Shropshire, Oxford, Telford and Middlesbrough as ethnically motivated, thus creating a moral panic centred on South Asian grooming gangs preying on white girls. Despite the lack of evidence that the abuse perpetrated by some Asian men is distinct from male violence against women generally, the media focus on the grooming gang cases has constructed a narrative in which South Asian men pose a unique sexual threat to white girls. This process of ‘othering’ South Asian men in terms of abusive behaviour masks the fact that in the United Kingdom, the majority of sexual and physical abuse is perpetrated by white men; it simultaneously marginalises the sexual and domestic violence experienced by black and minority ethnic women. Indeed, the sexual abuse of South Asian women and girls is invisibilised within this binary discourse, despite growing concerns and evidence that the men who groomed the young girls in the aforementioned cases had also perpetrated domestic and sexual violence in their homes against their wives/partners. Through discourse analysis of newspaper coverage of these cases for the period 2012‒2018, this paper examines the British media's portrayal of South Asian men – particularly Pakistani men – in relation to child-grooming offences and explores the conditions under which ‘South Asian men’ have been constructed as ‘folk devils’. It also highlights the comparatively limited newspaper coverage of the abuse experiences and perspectives of Asian women and girls from the same communities to emphasise that violence against women and girls remains an ongoing problem across the nation.

This article presents a study of the social, emotional and physical health lifestyle behaviours of a socially marginalised segment of Canada's population: retired, widowed, immigrant mothers from a South Asian country. Using a narrative research process, we explore how present physical, emotional and social health leisure activities are influenced by behaviours from their childhood, with emphasis on migration to Canada, retirement and widowing as lifestyle behavioural change points. Our sample of immigrant women were living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada during the time of the study. The study employed narrative inquiry, which is often used in migration studies. Our qualitative data analyses uncovered themes that linked present social health activities and early life behaviours and the influence on them of cultural constraints or stimulants. Three forms of sociocultural influences, gender segregation, patriarchal protection and early preparation for marriage, shaped adolescence and adult life as less physically active but more emotionally and socially healthy. Later life events, migration, retirement and widowing, enabled women to gain freedom to renegotiate and reconstruct late‐life styles to be more physically and socially active through ethno‐cultural social networks they had built after migration. The concluding discussion makes recommendations for health and social programme planning to draw attention to cultural realms that could help these women become physically active after migration without compromising traditional social behaviours.

This paper describes a survey carried out by a South Asian women's voluntary organisation to identify the physical and mental health needs of its users. The results confirm research findings that suggest a high proportion of South Asian women suffer from psychological and somatic symptoms that are commonly associated with anxiety and depression. A considerable number had experienced racial discrimination and several had suffered sexual discrimination. Problems reported by participants included eating disorders, marital difficulties and domestic violence. The majority did not know where to seek help for mental health problems. Respondents wanted confidential talking and complementary therapies to be provided in services run by South Asian staff, and for health education and health promotion to be provided in their own ethnic language. The paper ends with a consideration of the implications of these findings for the delivery of mainstream mental health services, from health promotion through primary care to specialist services.

Women empowerment is an aid against discrimination and exploitation. Empowerment to women helps minimize the gender gap, achieve equality and promote self-worth to make independent choices and to influence social change. It is seen that women empowerment and economic development are two sides of the same coin. According to sustainable development goals by World Development Indicator, by 2030 their aim is to empower all women and girls by achieving gender equality. Being the first teacher of a child and to ably run a household from front females are the pillars of a strong and thriving society. Educating and empowering women will usher us in a society where each member is contributing to the betterment of society; which gradually will uplift the economic condition. As stated by Mahatma Gandhi “If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate an entire family.” Therefore, this study aims to investigate the status of women in the field of health, education, labor force participation and socioeconomic empowerment in selected South Asian countries, namely, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Secondary data has been used which are collected from the website and data center of United Nations Development Programme and World Bank. The research focuses on the comparative study on the South Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka regarding gender equality and women empowerment in the sectors like education, health, political and economic involvement and opportunity.

A number of initiatives have been developed to ensure easy access to mental health services for Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is a service that delivers first line interventions for South Asian women; however, little is known about what makes IAPT accessible for this population. This paper aims to explore South Asian women’s experiences of accessing psychological therapy and whether therapy within IAPT helps individuals to re-frame their experiences within their own cultural context.

A qualitative approach was used. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with South Asian women who accessed an IAPT service. Ten participants took part in the study and interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.

Six themes were identified; access, experience, cultural framework, therapist characteristics, expectations and “sticking with it”. Having a good therapeutic relationship with the therapist was key. While cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) enabled clients to manage their symptoms, manualised CBT led to a sense of dissatisfaction for some. Clients spoke of having to make a forced choice to either deny their culture or leave their culture at the door to access therapy. Cultural and religious exclusion had a negative impact on therapy particularly for those whose difficulties were related to their cultural or religious context.

Culture and religion continues to be excluded from psychological therapy for South Asian Women. A cultural shift is required from within IAPT services to maintain engagement for this group. Further clinical implications are discussed.

While the experiences of Black and Asian ethnic minority groups accessing secondary mental health services has been explored, this study explores and highlights the experiences of South Asian Women accessing therapy in primary care, and uniquely identifies the processes that enable women to engage in therapy.

The purpose of this paper is to calculate the rate of suicide in different religious groups in people of South Asian origin in the UK.

A cross-sectional, secondary analysis of a national data set. A name recognition algorithm was used to identify people of South Asian origin and their religion. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated using this data and data from the national census. Setting: a population study of all those who died by suicide in England and Wales in 2001. Participants: all cases of suicide and undetermined intent identified by the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales.

There were 4,848 suicides in the UK in 2001 of which 125 (2.6 percent) were identified as people of South Asian origin by the algorithm. The suicide rate for all people of South Asian origin was 5.50/100,000 compared to 9.31/100,000 for the population of England and Wales. The age SMR for those whose names were of Hindu, Muslim or Sikh origin were 0.88, 0.47 and 0.85, respectively. Female South Asians have lower rates of suicide, than their South Asian male counterparts.

Religious classification by the computerized program does not guarantee religious affiliation. The data set were confined to one year because religion was not collected prior to the 2001 census.

The rates of suicide for South Asian sub-populations in the UK differ by gender and religion.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the positive and negative effects of gender and ethnicity in relation to discrimination and the problems encountered in accessing social support (including emotional and instrumental support).

Qualitative data were collected through in‐depth interviews with 40 Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) female small business owners based in north west England. The main aims and objectives of the study were to: investigate the discriminatory experiences of BAME female small business owners related to their gender and ethnicity; and to identify the forms (formal and informal) and types (emotional/instrumental) of social support available in relation to their entrepreneurial activities that enabled them to cope with and overcome, the discrimination they may encounter.

Over half of the respondents in the study had experienced discriminations because of their gender, ethnic background or both. This was attributed to a number of factors, including stereotypical images of specific ethnic cultures, religions and practices. Many respondents reported difficulties in accessing different types of formal social support, e.g. formal business and financial support. Informal support by respondents' families was reported as a key source of both emotional and instrumental.

This paper is just a starting point for this area of research and, because the sample covers women from a variety of BAME backgrounds, it is not possible to generalize the findings to the wider population of BAME women. However, it does give an indication of what issues need to be considered in the provision of instrumental support for BAME women small business owners.

The paper shows that a key element in the development of a strategy for addressing the needs of the BAME female small business owners is the necessity to appropriately re‐design mainstream business support systems and financial services, in order to provide these women effective access to formal social support.

The experiences of BAME small business owners have received little attention and this paper offers a unique insight into the relationship between social support, gender, ethnicity and business ownership.