Tahirih Offers Cultural Awareness Training for Frontline Professionals
It is often hard to imagine the horrific violence that women and girls flee when they seek our services. But imagine the practical barriers they face simply trying to navigate social and legal systems within the United States. For example, escaping from an abuser is not as simple as running away, when many of our clients face the hardship of finding a shelter that will accept them if they do not have work authorization.
Abuse rates in marriages between US citizens and foreign-born women may be as much as three times higher than in general US population.
Or consider the problem “Meredith” faced when she couldn’t get into a federal courtroom for her own hearing because she didn’t have identification other than the notice requiring her to appear.
The Tahirih Justice Center seeks to change the landscape for immigrant women and girls by conducting outreach and training for other charitable organizations, pro bono attorneys, and law enforcement agencies, among others. This public education scope of Tahirih’s mission is part of our holistic model of protecting immigrant women and girls from violence, complemented by direct services and public policy advocacy.
Immigrant women and girls face cultural obstacles that magnify the difficulty of fleeing violence. These include factors such as language barriers, cultural stigmas on reporting abuse, or not having work authorization to be able to support themselves. They often face the isolation of not having a support network of friends or family, are usually unaware of their rights, and may be threatened by their abuser with arrest or deportation if they speak out.
Moreover, immigrant women and girls are more vulnerable to violence in the first place, as studies show that abuse rates in marriages between US citizens and foreign-born women may be as much as three times higher than in the general US population.1
Tahirih’s trainings have been a vital step toward ensuring that professionals that work on issues of gender-based violence and immigration are aware of the unique challenges faced by immigrant women and girls, as well as the rights and legal remedies available to them. In the last year, Tahirih has offered cultural sensitivity training for:
- Fort Meyer US Army Base
- Virginia Attorney General’s Office
- Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services
- Winchester Council Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse
Continuing to build upon these successful partnerships, in August Tahirih will offer a cultural competency training in Williamsburg, VA, organized by the York County Violence Against Women Task Force.
The values that guide Tahirih’s work are cooperative rather than competitive. In this spirit, Tahirih actively engages in sharing its resources and organizational knowledge so that more women and girls may feel safe seeking help in order to realize the protection available to them.
1Giselle Aguilar Hass, Nawal Ammar, and Leslye Orloff, “Battered Immigrants and U.S. Citizen Spouses,” Legal Momentum. April 24, 2006,
