Info Series
Info Series #13: Women* on the Move
Busting the myth that migration is predominantly male and why we need more focus on and take into account the lived experiences of women* on the move
N.B: The term “women” or “woman” will be used throughout this article. When using these terms we are referring to anyone who identifies as female, regardless of what their declared sex at birth was. These terms will be designated with a * alongside the word, like so: women* and woman*.
N.B: The term “people on the move” has been used throughout. “Migrant”, “Refugee”, “Asylum Seeker” is also used where appropriate to the context and also if appropriately used by the cited source.
When right-wing politicians talk about the situation of people on the move in Europe, they often conjure the image of the extremist, violent, young male ‘migrant’, in order to stoke fear and fuel anti-migrant sentiments. Sadly, this rhetoric and propaganda has been taken up by other actors in public discourse, including parts of the media, politicians and other opinion leaders. This has given rise to the popular myth that migration is an exclusively male phenomenon and that women* on the move are almost nonexistent.
Not only do statistics reveal this myth is wrong, but it also directly influences the decisions of policy makers, who attempt to deal with people on the move in Europe. For this Info Series we will therefore unpack the common misconception that most people on the move are adult men and discuss how women* are systematically overlooked in migration policies.
There is no data that suggests that there is a significant disparity between the number of women* and men who decide or are forced to leave their homes behind. All available sex-disaggregated data on migrant stocks basically show a 50-50 split between males and females. This is the case for total international migrant stocks, internally displaced persons (p. 28), stateless persons (p. 60) and the total population of those displaced across borders (p. 16). Breaking this down by age-groups produces similar splits and shows that 42% of all forcibly displaced persons are children. It also shows that roughly 28% are adult men and 72% are women* or children. Thus, this shows that amongst global stocks of people on the move, half are female.
These numbers change when looking at first-time asylum applicants in Europe. Here, the data shows a clear disparity, as 63.8% are male and 36.1% female. While this split still does not warrant the kind of rhetoric used by right-wing politicians, it does beg the question why it exists - considering the even split among global stocks of people on the move. One reason is that women* often do not take up the hazardous journeys that are necessary to claim asylum in other countries. Women* and children face sometimes more severe risks due to the nature of different dangers and types of violence, specific to the fact that they identify as female - which is explained throughout this instalment Info Series. Women* are therefore both less likely to take these risks and less likely to be the first to make the journey to reach countries that are designated as “safe”. In the case of people on the move migrating to Europe, women* and children are often left in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, while men make more dangerous and risky journeys across borders, at both land and sea. Through the process of family reunification, families are able to follow in a safer way when a man (or someone who makes the journey first) gets asylum, albeit not many people on the move are aware of this right. Still, 1 in 3 asylum seekers in Europe are women* and it is important to remember that many of them do take up these dangerous journeys; either taking their families with them or on their own.
Some data suggests that the majority of those living in refugee camps are women* and children, while research implies that more women and children die in maritime disasters, such as the drownings in the Mediterranean. However, for the most part, data regarding people on the move is rarely disaggregated by sex. The substantive “Migration Data Portal” writes “Migrant women, the risks they face during their journeys, and the conditions of their deaths remain largely invisible in the available data.” Of the incidents they analysed as part of their “Missing Migrants Project”, only 31% contain information on the sex of those missing or dead. This is in addition to the many problems with all statistics on irregular movement of people. Especially, undocumented people are often excluded from official statistics and counts of people on the move, thus making conclusions from these statistics incomplete and ultimately skewed.
The myth that people on the move are only men is based on a perspective that is both Eurocentric and sexist; it ignores the fact that people who want to claim asylum in Europe are both men and women* and it completely erases the experiences of women* on the move who undertake these journeys with all the dangers it involves. The fact that these dangers are partly caused by European border regimes, European wars and repressive governments, which are enabled by European economic interests, only makes this willful ignorance worse.
Women* on the move face a number of challenges throughout their journey. Starting with situations that cause their displacement, it does not finish with the discrimination they face in host countries. Due to the lack of data on the lived experiences of women* on the move, most of this goes unnoticed and only becomes apparent in the individual stories of these women* and girls. Nevertheless, there are systemic challenges that women* on the move face, which have been studied and documented in some data sets.
As discussed above, among the global population of people on the move, half are female. When natural disasters or violent conflict happen, this disproportionately affects the livelihoods of women*, who often work in less regulated and less stable ‘informal’ sectors. Additionally, in society girls are often forced (and expected) to give up their education first when conflicts arise and are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school in conflict areas than in non-conflict areas. In crisis situations, women* are more vulnerable to violence and exploitation, as Oxfam showed in its article “Women’s rights are early casualties of war”. This is in addition to the general discrimination and lack of equity that women* face everywhere, especially in the countries that many of them flee from. All of this leads to an increase in the number of women* who migrate - out of their own choice or forced - independently and who end up as heads of households.
However, the journeys that women* take also pose significant risks. A significant part of these are grouped under the term Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), which the United Nations Refugee Agency defines as referring to “harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful norms [and] can take many forms such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation and so-called ‘honour crimes’.” The most common of these is sexual violence, which reportedly at least one in five women* on the move have lived experiences of. The real number, however, is expected to be much higher, due to the lack of reporting, the number of undocumented women* (which are often not included in statistics that are produced) and stigmas about discussing this issue. As conflicts displace people on the move and their families, in some countries, the number of girls that end up in child marriages increases due to social norms that see this as being seen as a sense of security and stability. Nine out of the ten countries with the highest rates of child marriages have ongoing violent conflict. Women* are also much more vulnerable to human trafficking, with statistics showing that 71% of human trafficking victims are female. All of this is in addition to the higher levels of violence that women* face generally, which is currently increasing due to misogynistic and sexist rhetoric mobilised by politicians and the media across the world.
Women* are particularly vulnerable when they are on the move or in refugee camps. In these situations, there is less protection for women*, due to lack of or insufficient housing, poorly lit bathrooms and “general chaos”. This also results in Violence Against Women* (VAW) going unnoticed and unpunished, coupled with social norms that also often prevent women* from seeking help and speaking out. The lack of a framework for the protection of women* only intensifies these problems. Beyond the violence, another significant problem for women* on the move is that they lack access to necessary healthcare. Among women* on the move who are of childbearing age, lack of access to healthcare is a leading cause for death, disease and disability. Particularly prevalent are preventable maternal deaths, which are much more likely to occur in vulnerable situations; 60% of preventable maternal deaths happen in humanitarian settings. Women* on the move are often pregnant or can become pregnant during their journeys, putting them at significantly higher risk. Lack of sexual and reproductive health care is a major issue for women* on the move and often results in death, disease and further vulnerabilities. Health issues are even worse for transgender individuals, who are dependent on access to medical assistance.
The challenges mentioned here are those that are easily quantifiable and therefore more visible. There are many stories of women* who sleep in the cold because they do not feel safe in shelters, women* who cannot speak about being subjected to sexual violence, assault and abuse, for fear of being victimized by relatives, women* who cannot trust anyone for fear of being robbed of their money; the list goes on. And yet, these experiences often go unnoticed and underreported. A lot more research needs to be done on the plight of women on the move, but from the little we know, it is clear that they suffer additional and different challenges that other people on the move may not.
However, it is important to not only see this side of the experience of women* on the move. Women* are not only passive elements of migratory movements, who are defined through the protection they need. Instead, they are essential components of these movements and shape the experience of all people on the move along their journey – even though their contributions are largely ignored. As UN Women points out: “Women are often the first responders in a crisis, and whether en route or in camps, in home countries or destination countries, they play a crucial role in caring for, sustaining and rebuilding their communities.”
Especially in the European refugee camps, women* have started to gain attention for the inspirational work they do to help their communities. For instance, this article from the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic describes how women* in the former Moria camp in Greece organised themselves to produce sanitary kits for basic hygiene in the camp. Additionally, they started the video campaign “#SafeHands” to raise awareness about hand hygiene. These are only anecdotal stories, but they are the norm rather than the exception. As a female asylum-seeker from Afghanistan explained: “If I don’t help refugees like me, who will? … [W]hile governments take care of their own citizens, there is no one to take care of us.”
This is also true with regard to humanitarian assistance, which mostly ignores the contributions of women*. Of all UN humanitarian projects, only 4 percent were targeted at women* in 2014 and from 2012 to 2013 less than 1 percent of funding for fragile states went to women’s* projects. This is despite numerous studies showing that women* can make humanitarian action more efficient and beneficial for communities. Instead of tapping into this potential, the role of women* as agents of change, both in the long- and short-term, is ignored. This is especially apparent in the number of female migrants (“migrant” used here to designate women* who are working, rather than the use of the broad and all encompassing term “people on the move”) who start working - in either the formal or informal job market, or both - in destination countries and send back money to their families. This money far exceeds the amount that is paid in humanitarian assistance globally. The NGO “Women for Women” estimates that if adequately supported, women* on the move have the potential to generate an additional $1.4 Trillion in global GDP. Through economic empowerment women* can (if they are not able to themselves due to oppression, lack of opportunities etc.) provide for their own livelihoods and become self-reliant, which is crucial for their emancipation from oppressive social structures.
From this perspective, migration can result in the empowerment and emancipation of women*, helping them lead more self-determined and free lifes. Just as motivations for leaving origin countries are more complicated than forced or voluntary, women* go on the move not only as passive agents, who are forced by external circumstances, but can also actively choose to do so due to their own volition, as they seek a better future for themselves and their families. Yet, women* on the move face new challenges in destination countries, where they are discriminated against both as women* and due to having a migration background. They suffer under different patriarchal structures and face new kinds of abuse including labour exploitation.
Furthermore, the process of migrating is extremely oppressive for women and involves countless situations that exploit their vulnerability. In this sense then, migration is often a discriminatory and disempowering experience for women* on the move, as they are the most vulnerable to, and most affected by, the conditions that people on the move experience. Women* are often ignored and forgotten in both their contributions and their vulnerability. This is not only an issue of awareness but also has real world effects; women* both suffer and die due to their vulnerability and humanitarian assistance fails to empower, or simply help, women*.
Thus, the problem lies deeper in the way that global affairs and politics are understood: that women’s* and feminist issues are ignored in foreign and international policy. Beyond even that, there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what security means, which is driven and reproduced by patriarchal entities.
There are several approaches to how to make women* on the move more visible and make migration policies gender sensitive. A way to ensure gender is taken into account in all humanitarian assistance, support and decision making is through gender mainstreaming. This is where gender is “mainstreamed” throughout policies and decisions, rather than being treated as an “add on” after policies and decisions are made. This is the only way to ensure gender is treated as a gender consideration.
One recent proposal, the Marrakech Women’s Rights Manifesto, highlights the way gender can be mainstreamed. This mentions some key areas in which change needs to happen:
UN Women - Closing the Gender Gap in Humanitarian Action
Al Jazeera - Life as a female refugee: ‘You don’t know who to trust’
UNFPA - Five reasons migration is a feminist issue
Women for Women - 5 Facts about what refugee women face
Atlantic Council - Refugee Women: The most vulnerable and yet the most resilient in this pandemic
UNFPA - Gender-based violence in humanitarian settings
LSE - “Protecting Women and Girls in Refugee Camps - States’ obligations under international law”
UN Women Fund for Gender Equality - “‘Leaving no one behind’ in action”
N.B: The term “women” or “woman” will be used throughout this article. When using these terms we are referring to anyone who identifies as female, regardless of what their declared sex at birth was. These terms will be designated with a * alongside the word, like so: women* and woman*.
N.B: The term “people on the move” has been used throughout. “Migrant”, “Refugee”, “Asylum Seeker” is also used where appropriate to the context and also if appropriately used by the cited source.
When right-wing politicians talk about the situation of people on the move in Europe, they often conjure the image of the extremist, violent, young male ‘migrant’, in order to stoke fear and fuel anti-migrant sentiments. Sadly, this rhetoric and propaganda has been taken up by other actors in public discourse, including parts of the media, politicians and other opinion leaders. This has given rise to the popular myth that migration is an exclusively male phenomenon and that women* on the move are almost nonexistent.
Not only do statistics reveal this myth is wrong, but it also directly influences the decisions of policy makers, who attempt to deal with people on the move in Europe. For this Info Series we will therefore unpack the common misconception that most people on the move are adult men and discuss how women* are systematically overlooked in migration policies.
There is no data that suggests that there is a significant disparity between the number of women* and men who decide or are forced to leave their homes behind. All available sex-disaggregated data on migrant stocks basically show a 50-50 split between males and females. This is the case for total international migrant stocks, internally displaced persons (p. 28), stateless persons (p. 60) and the total population of those displaced across borders (p. 16). Breaking this down by age-groups produces similar splits and shows that 42% of all forcibly displaced persons are children. It also shows that roughly 28% are adult men and 72% are women* or children. Thus, this shows that amongst global stocks of people on the move, half are female.
These numbers change when looking at first-time asylum applicants in Europe. Here, the data shows a clear disparity, as 63.8% are male and 36.1% female. While this split still does not warrant the kind of rhetoric used by right-wing politicians, it does beg the question why it exists - considering the even split among global stocks of people on the move. One reason is that women* often do not take up the hazardous journeys that are necessary to claim asylum in other countries. Women* and children face sometimes more severe risks due to the nature of different dangers and types of violence, specific to the fact that they identify as female - which is explained throughout this instalment Info Series. Women* are therefore both less likely to take these risks and less likely to be the first to make the journey to reach countries that are designated as “safe”. In the case of people on the move migrating to Europe, women* and children are often left in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, while men make more dangerous and risky journeys across borders, at both land and sea. Through the process of family reunification, families are able to follow in a safer way when a man (or someone who makes the journey first) gets asylum, albeit not many people on the move are aware of this right. Still, 1 in 3 asylum seekers in Europe are women* and it is important to remember that many of them do take up these dangerous journeys; either taking their families with them or on their own.
Some data suggests that the majority of those living in refugee camps are women* and children, while research implies that more women and children die in maritime disasters, such as the drownings in the Mediterranean. However, for the most part, data regarding people on the move is rarely disaggregated by sex. The substantive “Migration Data Portal” writes “Migrant women, the risks they face during their journeys, and the conditions of their deaths remain largely invisible in the available data.” Of the incidents they analysed as part of their “Missing Migrants Project”, only 31% contain information on the sex of those missing or dead. This is in addition to the many problems with all statistics on irregular movement of people. Especially, undocumented people are often excluded from official statistics and counts of people on the move, thus making conclusions from these statistics incomplete and ultimately skewed.
The myth that people on the move are only men is based on a perspective that is both Eurocentric and sexist; it ignores the fact that people who want to claim asylum in Europe are both men and women* and it completely erases the experiences of women* on the move who undertake these journeys with all the dangers it involves. The fact that these dangers are partly caused by European border regimes, European wars and repressive governments, which are enabled by European economic interests, only makes this willful ignorance worse.
Women* on the move face a number of challenges throughout their journey. Starting with situations that cause their displacement, it does not finish with the discrimination they face in host countries. Due to the lack of data on the lived experiences of women* on the move, most of this goes unnoticed and only becomes apparent in the individual stories of these women* and girls. Nevertheless, there are systemic challenges that women* on the move face, which have been studied and documented in some data sets.
As discussed above, among the global population of people on the move, half are female. When natural disasters or violent conflict happen, this disproportionately affects the livelihoods of women*, who often work in less regulated and less stable ‘informal’ sectors. Additionally, in society girls are often forced (and expected) to give up their education first when conflicts arise and are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school in conflict areas than in non-conflict areas. In crisis situations, women* are more vulnerable to violence and exploitation, as Oxfam showed in its article “Women’s rights are early casualties of war”. This is in addition to the general discrimination and lack of equity that women* face everywhere, especially in the countries that many of them flee from. All of this leads to an increase in the number of women* who migrate - out of their own choice or forced - independently and who end up as heads of households.
However, the journeys that women* take also pose significant risks. A significant part of these are grouped under the term Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), which the United Nations Refugee Agency defines as referring to “harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful norms [and] can take many forms such as intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation and so-called ‘honour crimes’.” The most common of these is sexual violence, which reportedly at least one in five women* on the move have lived experiences of. The real number, however, is expected to be much higher, due to the lack of reporting, the number of undocumented women* (which are often not included in statistics that are produced) and stigmas about discussing this issue. As conflicts displace people on the move and their families, in some countries, the number of girls that end up in child marriages increases due to social norms that see this as being seen as a sense of security and stability. Nine out of the ten countries with the highest rates of child marriages have ongoing violent conflict. Women* are also much more vulnerable to human trafficking, with statistics showing that 71% of human trafficking victims are female. All of this is in addition to the higher levels of violence that women* face generally, which is currently increasing due to misogynistic and sexist rhetoric mobilised by politicians and the media across the world.
Women* are particularly vulnerable when they are on the move or in refugee camps. In these situations, there is less protection for women*, due to lack of or insufficient housing, poorly lit bathrooms and “general chaos”. This also results in Violence Against Women* (VAW) going unnoticed and unpunished, coupled with social norms that also often prevent women* from seeking help and speaking out. The lack of a framework for the protection of women* only intensifies these problems. Beyond the violence, another significant problem for women* on the move is that they lack access to necessary healthcare. Among women* on the move who are of childbearing age, lack of access to healthcare is a leading cause for death, disease and disability. Particularly prevalent are preventable maternal deaths, which are much more likely to occur in vulnerable situations; 60% of preventable maternal deaths happen in humanitarian settings. Women* on the move are often pregnant or can become pregnant during their journeys, putting them at significantly higher risk. Lack of sexual and reproductive health care is a major issue for women* on the move and often results in death, disease and further vulnerabilities. Health issues are even worse for transgender individuals, who are dependent on access to medical assistance.
The challenges mentioned here are those that are easily quantifiable and therefore more visible. There are many stories of women* who sleep in the cold because they do not feel safe in shelters, women* who cannot speak about being subjected to sexual violence, assault and abuse, for fear of being victimized by relatives, women* who cannot trust anyone for fear of being robbed of their money; the list goes on. And yet, these experiences often go unnoticed and underreported. A lot more research needs to be done on the plight of women on the move, but from the little we know, it is clear that they suffer additional and different challenges that other people on the move may not.
However, it is important to not only see this side of the experience of women* on the move. Women* are not only passive elements of migratory movements, who are defined through the protection they need. Instead, they are essential components of these movements and shape the experience of all people on the move along their journey – even though their contributions are largely ignored. As UN Women points out: “Women are often the first responders in a crisis, and whether en route or in camps, in home countries or destination countries, they play a crucial role in caring for, sustaining and rebuilding their communities.”
Especially in the European refugee camps, women* have started to gain attention for the inspirational work they do to help their communities. For instance, this article from the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic describes how women* in the former Moria camp in Greece organised themselves to produce sanitary kits for basic hygiene in the camp. Additionally, they started the video campaign “#SafeHands” to raise awareness about hand hygiene. These are only anecdotal stories, but they are the norm rather than the exception. As a female asylum-seeker from Afghanistan explained: “If I don’t help refugees like me, who will? … [W]hile governments take care of their own citizens, there is no one to take care of us.”
This is also true with regard to humanitarian assistance, which mostly ignores the contributions of women*. Of all UN humanitarian projects, only 4 percent were targeted at women* in 2014 and from 2012 to 2013 less than 1 percent of funding for fragile states went to women’s* projects. This is despite numerous studies showing that women* can make humanitarian action more efficient and beneficial for communities. Instead of tapping into this potential, the role of women* as agents of change, both in the long- and short-term, is ignored. This is especially apparent in the number of female migrants (“migrant” used here to designate women* who are working, rather than the use of the broad and all encompassing term “people on the move”) who start working - in either the formal or informal job market, or both - in destination countries and send back money to their families. This money far exceeds the amount that is paid in humanitarian assistance globally. The NGO “Women for Women” estimates that if adequately supported, women* on the move have the potential to generate an additional $1.4 Trillion in global GDP. Through economic empowerment women* can (if they are not able to themselves due to oppression, lack of opportunities etc.) provide for their own livelihoods and become self-reliant, which is crucial for their emancipation from oppressive social structures.
From this perspective, migration can result in the empowerment and emancipation of women*, helping them lead more self-determined and free lifes. Just as motivations for leaving origin countries are more complicated than forced or voluntary, women* go on the move not only as passive agents, who are forced by external circumstances, but can also actively choose to do so due to their own volition, as they seek a better future for themselves and their families. Yet, women* on the move face new challenges in destination countries, where they are discriminated against both as women* and due to having a migration background. They suffer under different patriarchal structures and face new kinds of abuse including labour exploitation.
Furthermore, the process of migrating is extremely oppressive for women and involves countless situations that exploit their vulnerability. In this sense then, migration is often a discriminatory and disempowering experience for women* on the move, as they are the most vulnerable to, and most affected by, the conditions that people on the move experience. Women* are often ignored and forgotten in both their contributions and their vulnerability. This is not only an issue of awareness but also has real world effects; women* both suffer and die due to their vulnerability and humanitarian assistance fails to empower, or simply help, women*.
Thus, the problem lies deeper in the way that global affairs and politics are understood: that women’s* and feminist issues are ignored in foreign and international policy. Beyond even that, there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what security means, which is driven and reproduced by patriarchal entities.
There are several approaches to how to make women* on the move more visible and make migration policies gender sensitive. A way to ensure gender is taken into account in all humanitarian assistance, support and decision making is through gender mainstreaming. This is where gender is “mainstreamed” throughout policies and decisions, rather than being treated as an “add on” after policies and decisions are made. This is the only way to ensure gender is treated as a gender consideration.
One recent proposal, the Marrakech Women’s Rights Manifesto, highlights the way gender can be mainstreamed. This mentions some key areas in which change needs to happen:
UN Women - Closing the Gender Gap in Humanitarian Action
Al Jazeera - Life as a female refugee: ‘You don’t know who to trust’
UNFPA - Five reasons migration is a feminist issue
Women for Women - 5 Facts about what refugee women face
Atlantic Council - Refugee Women: The most vulnerable and yet the most resilient in this pandemic
UNFPA - Gender-based violence in humanitarian settings
LSE - “Protecting Women and Girls in Refugee Camps - States’ obligations under international law”
UN Women Fund for Gender Equality - “‘Leaving no one behind’ in action”
