In the UK, ethnic minority women face unique and compounding barriers to disclosing domestic violence and abuse and accessing support services. Here, Dr Omolade Allen provides critical insights into the lived experiences of ethnic minority women in the UK, the potential of faith-based organisations as support systems, and how policymakers can work with these organisations to reach underserved women.

• Two women a week are killed in England and Wales by a current or ex male partner.
• Evidence shows that faith-based organisations (FBOs) can play a vital role in supporting women, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• Policymakers should build on this by ensuring FBOs are integrated into domestic violence and abuse strategies and pathways.

Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is a pervasive public health issue affecting over one-third of women globally. In the UK, ethnic minority women face unique and compounded barriers to disclosing abuse and accessing support services. These barriers can be compounded by immigration status. Despite policy advancements, these women often remain underserved due to systemic, cultural, and institutional challenges. Faith-based organisations (FBOs) and community networks emerge as pivotal, yet underutilised, support systems for all women, particularly for women from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds who have a faith affiliation.

Barriers to disclosure

Research from The University of Manchester found that women with insecure immigration status or those dependent on their partners for residency are often deterred from seeking help due to fear of deportation, destitution, or losing custody of their children. This fear is exacerbated when both the victim and perpetrator are subject to immigration control.

Furthermore, socialisation from countries of birth and subsequent acculturation within the UK were also found to be significant barriers to domestic abuse disclosure among migrant and ethnic minority women, as gendered norms, expectations of family privacy, stigma, and mistrust of statutory systems are often reinforced rather than alleviated through the migration and settlement process.

The role of faith-based organisations

In the absence of extended family, women often form surrogate support networks through religious or community affiliations, which can be leveraged for intervention. Research at The University of Manchester shows that FBOs and community leaders are often the first point of contact for women experiencing abuse. These organisations provide culturally familiar and trusted spaces for disclosure.

New research with women from the Nigerian diaspora in the UK shows that FBOs can serve as both a resource, and a barrier in themselves. FBOs played a crucial role for women suffering DVA from an intimate partner, providing moral and spiritual support. For women who had moved from a collectivist culture in Nigeria to a largely individualistic one in the UK, FBOs and faith leaders were a source of trusted support and one of the first places women turned for help. However, this reliance on FBOs could sometimes constrain women’s ability to seek formal help, with moral counsel sometimes framed through the lens of religious teaching that maintaining a marriage was the most important priority – though other faith leaders advised that nobody should be compelled to stay in an abusive relationship.

Similarly, FBOs may lack the training or resources to respond effectively, and their involvement is not systematically integrated into statutory service frameworks. Faith leaders acknowledged their lack of awareness of existing DVA services, with one leader saying:

“If I know more about what social services and other organisations do, it will help lessen my own burdens in terms of knowing where to refer people to…”

Other leaders expressed a desire for more information and training around DVA to enhance their knowledge.

Policy implications and recommendations

During the COVID pandemic, FBOs were essential frontline services, often acting in partnership with local authorities to provide foodbanks and information-sharing networks. Local authorities and devolved mayoral authorities should now build on these spontaneous collaborations to integrate faith-based and community organisations into existing DVA response frameworks. FBOs and ethnic community groups need recognition from local and devolved government as frontline responders in DVA cases. Training, funding, and formal referral pathways should be provided to enable these organisations to support victims effectively.

The 2025 VAWG Strategy highlights the important role of the VCSE sector in shaping and delivering VAWG strategies – FBOs are an important part of this as trusted cultural institutions with a diversity of experiences. While in the longer-term an updated VAWG strategy should adopt an intersectional policy framework, in the short- to medium-term, it is vital that local policymakers recognise the compounded vulnerabilities faced by ethnic minority women and adapt interventions accordingly by building on what already works to help them access existing services.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government should set out parameters for working together between statutory/social services and FBOs. As part of this, local and combined authorities should develop local partnerships between statutory services and FBOs to build trust and improve service uptake. Cultural competency must be enhanced in statutory services, through mandatory cultural sensitivity and anti-discrimination training for frontline workers in police, healthcare, and social services. Community liaison officers or cultural mediators should be employed to bridge gaps between services and ethnic minority communities.

By acknowledging the central role of faith, community, and immigration dynamics, policymakers at all levels can design more inclusive, effective, and equitable interventions. Strengthening partnerships with FBOs, enhancing cultural competency, and removing systemic barriers are essential steps toward ensuring that all women – regardless of background – can access the support they need to live free from violence, while reducing the health inequalities gap by improving access to health and social care systems.