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GENDER, MIGRATION & DEVELOPMENT
GENDER & MIGRATION
In 2010, 214 million people — 3 % of the world's population — lived outside their country of origin.
Half of all international migrants are women (in some countries up to 70-80%).
GENDER & MIGRATION Gender affects all aspects of the migration experience of both women and men.
Gender affects: - reasons for migrating - the decision of who will migrate - the social networks migrants use to move - the experiences of integration and labor insertion in the destination country - relations with one’s country of origin - the quantity and frequency of remittances that are sent & transfer mechanisms - reasons and possibilities for savings and investment.
DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION OF WOMEN MIGRANTS
Women migrants frequently end up in low-status, low-wage production and service jobs and often work in gender-segregated and unregulated sectors of the economy, such as domestic work
Women migrants are exposed to a much higher risk of exploitation, violence and abuse.
Women migrants are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Trafficked women are exposed to sexual violence and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, yet they have little access to medical or legal services.
AS A RESULT, FEMALE MIGRANTS OFTEN SUFFER 'DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION', AS WOMEN AND AS MIGRANTS
WOMEN MIGRANTS – AGENTS OF CHANGE
Women migrants contribute to change, innovation and social integration.
Social remittances: new skills, ideas, knowledge, attitudes, etc.
Migration experience facilitates economic empowerment and political participation
Migration changes gender relations in the family
MOLDOVAN WOMEN MIGRANTS: GENERAL PROFILE
More than half of Moldovan migrants are women
Fertile age: the majority are between 31-50 y.o.
Educated: 34% - have university degree
Exposed to long-term migration: more than 60% leave to EU/other countries
More than 60% - employed as unskilled workers in the destination country
Areas of work:
domestic work (48%), trade (13%), hotels &restaurants (11%), manufacturing (7%)
Reliable remitters:
The majority send money to their families (60-80%)
The majority save money to purchase a house for the family or to cover the educational costs of their children
THE ROLE OF MIGRATION POLICIES
Migration policies present a point of departure in tracking the potential consequences of migration for people on the move.
Some migration policies are gender-neutral in intent, but they may have different consequences for men and women
Example:
“Under family migration, for example, the admissibility of immigrants under the family, work or business/investment categories appears to be gender-neutral. The gender patterns that emerge are beyond the provisions of the policy. For example, business/investment routes tend to be selective of men, who tend to have more economic resources than women. As had been discussed, women dominate in the category of family migration. Classified as “dependents,” women may be rendered disadvantaged in terms of access to training programs in language, skills acquisition or cultural orientation that would ease their transition in their new environment. This classification fails to acknowledge the roles and responsibilities of women in family migration.”
GENDER-SENSITIVE APPROACH
In many sectors of development, it has been shown that working from a gender perspective increases the efficacy of policies and programs – including in migration area
Adopting a gender-sensitive approach means that policies and programs should take into account the specific needs of women and men, and should aim to shift unequal power relations to enable the full enjoyment of human rights for both sexes – thus, policies and programs should have a beneficial impact for both women and men migrants
GENDER-SENSITIVE MIGRATION POLICIES
The OSCE Guide defines gender-sensitive labour migration policies as “those recognizing that both men and women migrate for economic reasons and better employment opportunities, and that female migrant workers also make significant economic and social contributions to national economies in both countries of origin and destination.
Such policies acknowledge that female migrant workers may experience more disadvantages and discrimination at all stages of the migration process.
In order to rectify the situation, they seek to:
• develop enabling environments that provide equality of employment opportunity and access to benefits to both migrant men and women;
• follow a “two-way” approach, encompassing general migrant protection provisions and those specifically targeting female migrant workers in order to empower them with choices, access resources and claim rights;
• introduce temporary special measures to compensate for past discrimination that may adversely affect female migrants’ current situation.
GENDER-SENSITIVE APPROACH TO POLICIES
Migration policies are not indifferent to gender; rather, they can be gender-biased, gender-blind, gender-neutral or gender-sensitive:
• Gender-biased policies are those that discriminate, e.g. excluding women from recruitment programs, wage discrimination, or policies that allow for the systematic exploitation of women.
• Gender-blind policies result when policymakers fail to recognize gender as a key determinant. One example is that the household is often taken as one economic unit in migration studies, when in fact it is made up of men and women with very different tasks and decision-making power.
• Gender-neutral policies, de facto, do not have a differential impact on men and women; however, their outcomes may sometimes be detrimental to female migrant workers.
• Gender-sensitive policies, in contrast to the above three policy types, consider factors rooted in the gender division of labour and power relations between men and women; they use sex-disaggregated data and take into account who benefits from policies and who does not. They can contain specific measures targeting women.
HOW TO “ENGENDER” MIGRATION POLICIES:DATA AND TOOLS FOR GENDER MAINSTREAMINGGender-Related Data
Use and analysis of sex-disaggregated data
Gender Impact Assessment A Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) is the systematic evaluation of the roles, power relations, wealth and choices of men and women, as well as the workload of and divided between them. Applied to labour migration policies, it looks at how labour migration programmes and migration policies in general have different impacts on men and women, and on gender relations.
NATIONAL FRAMEWORK: WHERE GENDER AND MIGRATION MEET
NATIONAL PROGRAMME ON GENDER EQUALITY 2010-2015 recognizes that
- there is an increasing need to analyze migration through gender lens, as the risk of discrimination for women in migration is higher
- women have limited employment opportunities due to gender stereotypes and are restrained to domestic work and services
- migrant women suffer from ‘double discrimination’
- it is important when developing migration policies to pay special attention to the aspect of ensuring fundamental rights of the migrants, especially women, including through the lens of CEDAW
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE IN THE “EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR MIGRATION” AREA:
- mainstreaming of gender dimension into migration management policies
NATIONAL FRAMEWORK: WHERE GENDER AND MIGRATION MEET
NPGE ACTION PLAN 2013-2015
Specific actions related to migration:
1.5 Mainstreaming of gender into national migration programs and plans
1.5.1 Negotiation and signing of intergovernmental agreements in the area of social protection of migrants (MLSPF)
1.5.2 Negotiation of bilateral agreements in the area of labour migration (MLSPF)
1.5.3 Produce statistical research and sex-disaggregated data
1.5.4 Support returned women migrants through investment projects (MEc, ODIMM, Donors)
COHERENCE IN ACTIONS: MIGRATION AND GENDER FOCAL POINTS
LAW NR.5 FROM 09.02.2006 ON ENSURING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND MEN, introduces two notions:
complex approach to equality between women and men – integration of the principle of equality between women and men into policies and programs from all spheres and at all levels of adoption and implementation of decisions;
gender unit – a specialist vested with duties to promote equality between women and men in the institution where he/she is employed.
GENDER UNITS (GENDER FOCAL POINTS)
(3) Gender units shall operate within central public administration authorities.
The gender unit shall: a) monitor the observance of legislation in the field of equality between women and men within central public administration authorities; b) submit proposals to integrate the principle of equality between women and men into the policies and activity plans of central public authorities; c) examine petitions of legal entities and natural persons as regards cases of discrimination based on the criterion of sex; d) submit periodically to specialized bodies reports on activity on issues of equality between women and men; e) perform other duties in the field, in accordance with the legislation
CONSILIILE GENDER
Pilot action on the initiative and guidance of the MLSPF: establishment of gender councils
Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family
CONCLUSIONSMigration is not gender-neutral
Gender issues impact on the reasons for migration, how one migrates, where one migrates to, the type of job one is expected or able to obtain, and the vulnerabilities to which one is exposed throughout the whole process.
Migration can be a pathway to gender equality, but its potential to facilitate such a change is constrained by significant obstacles, beginning with policies.
Due to the feminization of labour migration, increasing demand for female migrant workers and the often experienced discrimination and unequal treatment of female migrants, there is a need for more gender-sensitive migration policies.
NEW UN WOMEN PROGRAMME IN MOLDOVA
Project: Promoting and protecting Women Migrant Workers' labor and human rights
Location of the action: Global with pilots: Mexico (Latin America), Moldova (Eastern
Europe), Philippines (South East Asia)
Total duration: 36 months (starting in February 2014)
Donor: European Union
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION LEVELS
OBJECTIVES Overall objective: To promote Women Migrant Workers (WMW)
Rights and protect them against exploitation and exclusion at all stages of migration
Specific objectives: (a) Strengthen strategic international human rights mechanisms, national oversight institutions and governments to ensure accountability to women migrant workers at all stages;
(b) Strengthen women migrant worker’s organizations and their support groups to effectively engage with the above stakeholders to ensure greater accountability to them;
BENEFICIARIESTarget groups: (a) Mechanisms to protect the rights of WMWs at international level: Treaty Bodies (TBs), Special Procedures (SPs), the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
(b) National institutions to protect rights of WMWs: human rights institutions, parliamentary secretariats, parliamentarians
(c) Relevant government stakeholders in pilot countries
(d) Women Migrant Workers Organizations and their support groups
Final beneficiaries: Women Migrant Workers, their families and communities
MAIN ACTIVITIES ON THE LOCAL LEVEL
• Development of Knowledge products (studies, research) to fill in the existing gaps in data on women migrant workers
Planned research: situational analysis, review of labour, migration and trafficking laws, study on remittances, survey on perceptions/stereotypes on women migrants, etc.
• Enhancing the capacity and accountability of government, parliament, national HRs mechanisms and institutions to women migrant workers
Planned activities: trainings and workshops (incl. with Migration Focal Points)
• Enhancing the capacity of Women Migrant Workers’ Organization
Planned activities: support the dialogue with women migrant workers on the creation of the organization, with support of Bureau for Diaspora Relations
