Summary: Webinar on API Women Overcoming Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking

Participants from all over the United States and across the public, private and nonprofit sectors joined the Asian Pacific Fund for its first-ever webinar. The April 19, 2018 webinar on “API Women Overcoming Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking” highlighted the work of three of the Fund’s affiliates and the strategies they employ to address the specific needs of API women.

Asian Women’s Shelter‘s Acting Executive Director Orchid Pusey talked about the importance of an intersectional approach to working with API women that accounts for how other forms institutional oppression like classism and xenophobia intersects with racism and sexism. This approach is important given the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Bay Area’s API community.

Gum Moon Women’s Residence‘s Executive Director Gloria Tan spoke about the negative impact that recent immigration policy changes have had on her organization’s ongoing work with API domestic violence and human trafficking survivors. She shared how API women are afraid to access services available to them, like health care and food stamps, for fear of being swept up by immigration officials despite having legal documentation.

Narika‘s Executive Rovina Nimbalkar discussed the need for culturally-responsive approaches to addressing the needs of API women. She highlighted how in the South Asian community with which her organization works, culturally-sanctioned beliefs about gender roles and discipline have been used  to coerce and dominate South Asian women immigrants.

This webinar was sponsored by The Women’s Foundation of California. The Women’s Foundation of California is a statewide community foundation dedicated to securing gender justice in California.

Our pilot webinar series is part of our broader #APIHiddenNeeds campaign to raise awareness about the hidden needs confronting the Asian and Pacific Islander community.