Intimate Partner Violence and Afro-Caribbean Women: Practice Implications for the U.S

Intimate-partner violence (IPV) is a major issue affecting Caribbean countries (WHO). In recent years, various policies and laws were implemented in efforts to reduce gender-based violence in all its forms in the Caribbean. Despite such efforts, gender-based violence persists. A major barrier to reducing gender-based violence is the ill-response of authorities and a culture that is grounded in patriarchy and traditional gender roles (Anderson, 2012; Gibbons, 2013). Many Caribbean women migrate to the US annually and are settling in the South. Frye, Hosein, Waltermaurer, Blney, and Whitt (2005) reported that immigrant women made up over half of all intimate partner femicide victims reported between 1990 and 1999 in New York. Additionally, immigrant women were nearly two times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than a nonintimate partner. With the increase in migrants to the South and the unique cultural characteristic that Afro-Caribbean immigrants bring, it is important to discuss policy implications and intervention strategies for violence reported by Afro-Caribbean women. Understanding the characterization of gender-based violence from an Afro-Caribbean perspective will inform strategies for intervention and prevention