Help for abused overseas ‘brides’

Press, 3 December 1987, Page 14

Help for abused overseas ‘brides’

A support group for abused Filipino women has been set up by the Canterbury Philippines Society, in response to its. concern about the exploitation of “mail order brides.” The society was becoming concerned at the consequences of the marriages arranged for New Zealand men through "special” agencies, said the society’s chairwoman, Mrs Julie Sturrock.

The men usually made contact with their Filipino wives through a “mail order catalogue” of brides advertised by certain agencies in New Zealand,

she said. They paid “a lot of money” to receive photographs and some information about their prospective brides, and also had to go to the Philippines to meet the women, who they usually married before returning to New Zealand.

Often neither party had. contact beforehand, and had no opportunity to get to know each other before the marriage ceremony, said Mrs Sturrock. This meant the women had little chance to know if the men had a history of abuse or not Mrs Sturrock said it seemed in some cases

that the women were not even aware that they were going to get married, but had been deceived into thinking that the meeting with the men was for “friendship.” Once married, however, the women went with the men because of the oppression and economic hardships they suffered in their own country, she said.

After coming to live in New Zealand, problems often arose because of cultural differences and the frustrations of language difficulties. The society had decided

to set up a support group, after becoming aware that abused Filipino women were being seen by the Christchurch Women’s Refuge and the Battered Women’s Support Group, she said. Mrs Sturrock said she did not know how many Filipino brides were being beaten by their New Zealand husbands, but even the “one or two cases” the society knew of were “cause for concern.”

In Christchurch, about 200 women belonged to the Filipino community, and a further 500 women in the wider Canterbury

area, although not all were members of the society. Mrs Sturrock said she did not know how the mail order marriages could be prevented, but the society hoped it could offer a support network for the women who found themselves being abused as a result of the marriage problems. “If New Zealand men want to marry Filipino women, they can do so, but they should go to their country and get to know women there, rather than go through a mail order.”