Unemployed Indians prone to family violence

A Report on Gandhi Nivas in South Auckland

Fourth of many Parts

Mandy Morgan and Leigh Coombes – 

Employment Status

Information on clients’ employment status was provided for 100 unique individuals. In some cases, where clients were employed, employment information was very specific and included both the client’s employment role and their employer.

In other cases, only the client’s role was included and more rarely the information was simply ‘employed’.

The term ‘self-employed’ was used for four cases and we have included it as a separate category of employment.

However, in a number of cases where only the client’s role was provided (e.g. trades) the individuals may also have been self-employed.

In total, 46% of clients with employment status information were in paid work. Another 5% were students. 49% of clients were unemployed.

Significant issue

Key informants from Gandhi Nivas affirm that lack of employment is a significant issue facing their clients and the community more broadly.

Unfortunately, we did not have any information on how many clients were beneficiaries and how many were financially dependent on another household member’s income.

While the present data provides a broad baseline on client employment, we will be seeking sources of further information on income brackets, beneficiary status, dependents and other household members’ income and employment status, which would allow us to distinguish whether there are systematic differences affecting outcomes among those who are beneficiaries and those who are depending on other household members’ income and employment status.

Police Matters Leading to Intake

In most cases, clients are first involved with the services offered by Gandhi Nivas through referrals generated as a result of Police matters.

Of the 97 individual clients matched to the New Zealand Police data, only four had no recorded involvement with Police matters that led to their intake at Gandhi Nivas.

For 57 clients, an incident resulting in the issue of a Police Safely Order (PSO) led to their referral to Gandhi Nivas. For the other 37 clients, either a Police recorded offence or incident that did not result in a PSO was the initial matter leading to a referral.

We note that for one of the clients who could not be matched to Police data, information regarding a verbal warning by Police had been recorded in the Gandhi Nivas data provided but without a date.

Next Issue: Types of Domestic Relationship and Family Violence

Editor’s Note: Gandhi Nivas is an initiative to ‘complete’ the approach to minimise, if possible eliminate totally, family violence among South Asian families. The following report, commissioned by Massey University looks at the concept, practice and challenges that face the collective effort in South Auckland. The above report, with minor modifications to suit our readership will appear as a serial in Indian Newslink. In this fourth part, the authors provide a background to the employment status of those precipitating family violence.