WUNRN
Global Migration Policy Associated -
GMPA
GLOBAL MIGRATION OVERVIEW - WOMEN
MIGRANTS
Gender Specificity
The feminization of migration is less about the gender proportions of migration, female participation has been above 45% for decades. The difference today is that most if not nearly all women migrants are economically active. They often migrate on their own rather than as dependants. This is generally true across Africa.
In a context of stratification of employment and segmentation of labour markets, women migrants hold particular appeal for employers as they are sought after and recruited for 'women's work' that, not coincidentally, is usually low paid and unprotected: domestic work, healthcare, agriculture, hotel and restaurant, semi-skilled manufacturing in export processing zones. What's common across many of these is that while some workplaces may be highly socialized they are not organized, meaning no unions or associations for mutual defense and solidarity, nor any bargaining power to press for decent work conditions.
In Africa, women predominate among the large numbers of mobile commercial and trade workers who circulate regularly across different countries as their economic activity. This large group of mobile persons is poorly documented; most are apparently not be counted as 'migrants' in statistics that register as such those who have established residency in a country other than that of citizenship.
Women and girl migrants face high risks of sexual and gender based exploitation as well as violence, both in the migration process and in destination countries. Adoption of ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers has brought attention to a sector of activity almost entirely comprised of women workers. Attention to the risks faced by migrant domestic women workers should be a springboard to highlight the generalized lack of effective protection faced by women migrant workers in agriculture, in textile sweatshops and elsewhere. Testimony abounds of women working in these sectors subject to exploitative working conditions, sexual harassment, unprotected exposure to dangerous pesticides or chemicals, and other risks.
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