A post at Feministing highlights the apparently high rate of suicides amongst Asian women.
Southall Black Sisters has claimed that domestic violence are forcing more and more Asian women in Britain to commit suicide on railway tracks.
“The high instance of Asian women suicides is linked to abusive practices within Asian families. There is a correlation between these suicides and violence in homes. Psychiatric research has shown there are rarely cases of mental disorders in these cases, suggesting they are the result of social circumstances. These women are often isolated and find it hard to escape,” Hannana Siddiqui from Southall Black Sisters, was quoted as saying.
Even Muslim playwright Yasmin Whittaker Khan, who has written about the social problems affecting Asian communities, said: “They feel there’s no other way of escaping problems such as adultery, domestic violence and alcoholism.”
Add to these problems a cultural glorification of suffering and suicide (i.e. sati) and you have a recipe for disaster.
