By force, not by choice: Refugee women and asylum-seekers

This article attends to the connections between neo-liberal and neo-developmentalist labour regimes, asylum and immigration management, and the exploitation of undocumented, refugee, and migrant women, based on the experiences of Syrian refugee women in Turkey. The concept of precarity is explored as a selectively applied strategy by states to people who lack “status” or who are unable to benefit from “membership rights.” Forced migrants, illegal migrants, and asylum seekers are directly implicated in highly precarious work experiences at the bottom end of labour markets across the Global South, becoming trapped in forced labour and human trafficking arrangements. The article establishes a link between extreme forms of migrant labour exploitation in precarious life worlds and gender-based profiling of life chances.

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The Maternity Care Needs of Refugee and Asylum Seeking Women in Ireland

Feminist Review ◽

10.1057/palgrave.fr.9400073 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 73 (1) ◽

pp. 39-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Patricia Kennedy ◽

Jo Murphy-Lawless

Keyword(s):

Maternity Care ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

Original Research ◽

Care Needs ◽

Complex Needs ◽

Feminist Literature ◽

Refugee Women ◽

Maternity Hospitals ◽

Research Findings ◽

Major Increase

This article presents some of the findings from the original research carried out with asylum seeking and refugee women in Ireland who were pregnant or who had recently given birth. The explosion in numbers in Ireland from 1998 onwards has been such that this group now comprises more than one in five of every birth in the country's three major maternity hospitals, all based in Dublin. The article explores the background reasons for the major increase in recent years of this group of women. It discusses the difficult circumstances encountered by women who must engage with a system of maternity care unused to such complex needs, amidst a general policy climate of uncertainty and even hostility towards asylum seekers. The research findings contribute to the feminist literature on maternity and challenge us to examine the way in which globalization is impacting on women as mothers and the need for challenging Western states anew on the development of a more coherent model of maternity care in response to the needs of such women.

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The obstetric care of asylum seekers and refugee women in the UK

The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist ◽

10.1111/tog.12224 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 223-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Sonia Asif ◽

Amy Baugh ◽

Nia Wyn Jones

Keyword(s):

Asylum Seekers ◽

Obstetric Care ◽

Refugee Women ◽

The Uk

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Women and the 1951 Refugee Convention: Fifty Years of Seeking Visibility

Refuge ◽

10.25071/1920-7336.21227 ◽

2001 ◽

pp. 25-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Nahla Valji

Keyword(s):

Legal System ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

Refugee Convention ◽

Half Century ◽

Refugee Women ◽

The Past ◽

Refugee Protection ◽

The Status ◽

International Legal System

The refugee regime, built on the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, has long excluded women from the international right to protection from persecution. The gender-blind parameters of the Convention have been exacerbated by the same qualities in the international legal system of which it is a part; state practices toward asylum-seekers; and the dichotomous construction of the refugee regime as a whole, which has produced and reproduced victimizing identities of refugee women. Advances today, such as the adoption of gender guidelines in a number of states, have been more symbolic in effect than transforming. New policy paths need to be evaluated to ensure that the next half-century of refugee protection does not duplicate the inequalities of the past.

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Gender-based violence among refugee women referred to a Cultural Consultation Service in Montreal

Transcultural Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/13634615211043767 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136346152110437

Author(s):

Marcela Mezzatesta Gava ◽

Laia Miquel ◽

G. Eric Jarvis

Keyword(s):

Partner Violence ◽

Asylum Seekers ◽

Clinical Sample ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Gender Based Violence ◽

Consultation Service ◽

Chi Square ◽

Refugee Women ◽

Group A ◽

Gender Based

Gender-based violence (GBV) among female refugees/asylum seekers is a major underreported/understudied psychosocial issue. The aims of this study were: to describe the proportion of GBV-related experiences among female refugees/asylum seekers referred to a Cultural Consultation Service (CCS) in Montreal; to describe their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics; and to compare these characteristics among women who make GBV their principal refugee claim (Group A), those who did not but had suffered GBV (Group B1), and those who had never reported GBV (Group B2). Data on sociodemographic and clinical variables and GBV were gathered by chart review. Data were analyzed using chi-square for categorical and ANOVA for continuous comparisons. A total of 91 female refugees/asylum seekers were evaluated from 2000 to 2013; 80% (73/91) having reported GBV, with 38.5% (35/91) using GBV as the principal reason for seeking asylum in Canada (Group A), mainly due to intimate partner violence (IPV). Fully 66.6% (38/56) of women who sought asylum for reasons other than GBV reported having experienced GBV (Group B1). When compared to the other groups, Group A women exhibited a number of statistically significant differences: they tended to migrate alone ( p < .001), be divorced/single ( p = .02), have more suicidal thoughts/behaviors ( p < .001), and report a history of IPV ( p < .001). Women from Group B1 were more likely to be diagnosed with Affective Disorders ( p = .045), and to have suffered sexual violence ( p < .001). Results suggest that GBV is frequently experienced by refugee/asylum seeker women in this small, tertiary care clinical sample. When assessing refugee women such as these, differences in the kind of violence suffered, migration process, family/social support, and clinical related features should be taken into account and explored by clinicians in a culturally appropriate and safe manner.

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