The current debate of the “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration” shows how migration is being used and manipulated by right wing populist parties who promise ‘security’ by impeding immigration, whilst masking problems of inequality and social insecurity in Europe. Female migrant and refugees’ personal safety and security is hugely impacted by the restrictive and externalized European border regime.
This new publication shows that, whereas root causes of (forced) migration urgently need to be tackled, security demands must be balanced against the respect for (women’s) human rights and the benefits of migration. Beyond being a documentation of the project activities, the publication a useful resource for adult educators and the interested public on feminist approaches to gender, migration and democracy.
This publication is the result of a two year project supported through the Erasmus+ programme “The Europe we want?”, that enabled 5 WIDE+ member associations to exchange experiences, discuss feminist anti-racist strategies and get to know good practise in the area of refugee and migrant women rights and adult education in tbeir respective European countries. The NGOs involved, are:
WIDE – Entwicklungspolitisches Netzwerk für Frauenrechte und feministische Perspektiven (Austria) http://www.wide-netzwerk.at
CEIM – Centro de Estudios e Investigación sobre Mujeres (Spain) http://www.ceim.eu
Le Monde selon les femmes (Belgium) http://www.mondefemmes.be
GADIP – Network Gender and Development in Practice (Sweden) www.gadip.se
Karat Coalition (Poland) http://www.karat.org
Read or Download here the publication or: http://www.wide-netzwerk.at/images/publikationen/2018/TheEuropeWeWant-FeministApproaches-Migration.pdf
Further Information
Almost half of the international migrants and refugees are female. In order to understand specific push factors for women who leave their countries, the specific disadvantages of women and girls need to be taken into account, such as structures of discrimination against women in civil life and culture, for example a lack of education or professional training for girls, absence of sexual and reproductive rights and other factors that hinder them to live a life in dignity and/or to sustain their families.
For the empowerment of refugee and migrant women in Europe, much can be learnt from good practise in different countries on how to contribute positively to the physical and psychological health of women and their empowerment, including action against gendered and ‘culturalized’ forms of racism.
Given the crucial role of education to overcome racism and promote sustainable and socially just societies, we demand that policy makers in Europe promote educational programs that aim at a better understanding of global power relations, inequalities, conflicts and push-factors for migration, including the drivers for women´s migration; to (further) promote local and international exchange on good practise in the area of refugee and migrant women´s rights, empowerment and democratic participation, both at state and civil society level.
As civil society engagement plays a major role in dealing with migration, we demand to include civil society organisations – including migrant women´s organisations – into policy making processes. Furthermore, it is crucial to increase awareness-raising about ‘culturalized’ and gendered forms of racism among the youth and adults, and to promote critical media competence on these issues.