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Posted : 2013-06-12 17:26
Updated : 2013-06-12 17:26
Ignorance leads to abuse in interracial couples
By Kim Rahn Overall, Korea has relatively high rates of domestic violence. According to a survey conducted in 2010 by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, 65.6 percent of married couples aged between 19 and 65 said they experienced domestic violence at least once during the last year. The figure among interracial couples is even higher, 69.1 percent. For the survey on multiethnic couples, all respondents were foreign women married to Korean men. Various forms of violence defined in the survey were included. When multiple replies were allowed, 13.4 percent of the victims in multiracial families said they were physically beaten. Mental abuse, such as using insults or swearwords, threats, or destroying the victim's belongings, was reported by 21.5 percent. More than 15 percent said they were subject to tight financial control because the husbands did not give the foreign wives money to buy daily necessities or managed the household income. Sexual abuse was a problem for 5.2 percent, while 22.5 percent said their husbands treated them as inferiors. About half of them, or 47.2 percent, said that their husbands controlled their daily activities, including preventing them from meeting friends or other people, always wanting to know where they were, or suspecting they are dating somebody else. The number of respondents of the survey, however, was only 307. Experts say the actual ratio of those suffering domestic violence is likely to be higher. "It is impossible to conduct the survey on all foreign wives. Three related ministries conducted a joint survey on multiethnic families in 2009, and they could only survey about half of the 131,700 families at that time because many were unavailable," said Seo Kwang-seok, president of the Migrants' Social Integration Support Center. "Regarding women who can come to support centers and ask for help about their husbands' violence, I guess their situation is better than those who never contact us," said Seo, adding that he personally estimated the ratio of foreign wives suffering domestic violence was around 85 percent. Legal stay fetters wives Experts say that a lack of communication, resulting largely from a language barrier, is the main cause of violence. "It is very natural for a couple to have conflicts even when the couple is Korean. So conflicts involving multiethnic couples can be even more difficult to solve since the husbands and wives have different cultural backgrounds," said Lee Jeong-hee from the Ministry of Gender Equality. "It is desirable for them to solve the troubles by talking. But conversations can be limited since the foreign spouses often lack Korean language skills and so are unable to express their opinions properly. As a result, conflicts often end with physical or other types of abuse," she said. Seo said that it may take 10 years for a foreign wife to adapt herself comfortably to a new home country and it requires the husband and in-laws to be patient. "However, many husbands are impatient. They seek counseling here and complain that ‘My wife has been here for six months but she doesn't speak Korean yet and doesn't know how to make Korean food. Should I get a divorce?'" he said. Han Ga-eun, the head of the counseling team at the Women Migrants Human Rights Center, said the way multicultural marriages are arranged is another cause for abuse. Many marriages between Korean men and women from China or Southeast Asia are made through marriage brokers. Such couples only have a very short time, usually two or three days, to decide whether to get married and the men are often responsible for paying the matchmaking and wedding fees. "The marriage process is too fast. Since the husbands pay all the costs for the marriage, some of them think they have ‘purchased' the women," Han said. Brokers sometimes offer false information to the would-be couples in violation of the law. "They do so because they can make money when the couples get married. They tell a foreign woman that her future husband has three cars, when he actually lives in a shabby flat," Seo said. The socioeconomic status of the husbands and their age are also seen as contributing to domestic violence. According to the ministry's survey, 31.9 percent of the multicultural families had less than 2 million won in monthly income, while 16.6 percent had less than 1 million won. Forty-eight percent of the Korean husbands were only high school graduates. "Many men seeking foreign wives come from socially low levels, so the couples often have financial problems," Lee said. The age gap between the husbands and the wives can cause "generational conflicts." The survey revealed that 49.2 percent of the wives were in their 20s, while 48.7 percent of the husbands were in their 40s. "Many of those ‘old' husbands still have patriarchal views. But the wives are too young to accept them," Han said. Despite the violence, the victims usually put up with it mainly because they could lose their legal status to remain in Korea if they divorce or separate. "Husbands threaten that they will not renew their wives' visas or will prevent them from obtaining Korean citizenship if the wives report cases of abuse and beatings to support centers or the police. So those women can't seek help easily. The husbands and his family members take advantage of this and treat the women badly," Seo said. Han said children are another reason. "Even though the victims decide to separate, it is difficult for them to gain child custody because they do not make enough money to raise children. The courts would not grant custody to the wives unless they have a minimum amount of money to rent a house," she said. Education for husbands The government offers education programs about basic living conditions in Korea to immigrant spouses on their arrival. They are also informed of where they can seek help in case of domestic violence and what kind of support they can get. However, this advice is not often followed. Kim, an ethnic Korean-Chinese woman who married to a Korean man but divorced him due to his alcoholism and domestic violence, said, "I knew of the program. But at that time, I didn't pay attention to it because I never thought about such a thing. Foreign wives come here in expectation of a happy marriage life. Who would think about such a tragic future?" The program has been criticized for failing as a preventive measure since education about domestic violence should be directed at husbands and their family members rather than the foreign wives. In response, the government has made it mandatory for Korean husbands to receive education regarding international marriage laws and cultural differences. But the three-hour education is not comprehensive or long enough, experts say. "I doubt the effectiveness of the education program. A husband's alcoholism, for example, cannot be treated if husbands do not agree to get treatment," Han said. Kim Young-lan, professor at Sookmyung Women's University, said that not only husbands but also their family members need to be educated on cultural differences. "They need to understand the culture of their wives homeland, rather than forcing them to learn about Korean culture. Multiculturalism does not mean assimilation," she said. |