Every year thousands of women move from their less developed or undeveloped countries and move to more developed countries in search of better opportunities or flee from conflicts. These women pushed by increased poverty and impoverishment risk their very lives in dangerous migration procedures and avenues. In essence, the women are unable to escape their troubles as they face more challenges in their country of destination. Most of the challenges faced by the female migrant have to do with gender inequalities as they are treated as lesser beings as compared to their male counterparts. These female migrants usually end up working as domestic help or casual laborers with little income and harsh working conditions. An analysis of the issue of challenges faced by female immigrants reveals a deep-seated social problem, which needs immediate redress.
Status of Female Migrants
Women make up the largest part of all migrants in the world at 50 percent of the total 244 million migrants and 20 million refugees worldwide. These statistics represent a saddening reality since women seem to suffer most from challenges that force people to move to other countries. The reason for this is the fact that women not only think of their own interests but also the best interests of their children. This is especially the case when such women are fleeing conflicts from their own countries, as they have to ensure that they tend to their children. In essence, women struggle more, as they have to find food, shelter, and water for their children as men are usually left behind in war zones. Moreover, women due to their maternal instincts are usually the first individuals to respond to crisis putting them in harm’s way. These women play a crucial role in sustaining and rebuilding their countries even when they are in refugee camps.
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Challenges Faced By Women Migrants
Women comprise more than half of all the refugees across the world. In essence, women tend to face more difficulties in the refugee camps as compared to their male counterparts. The women who are away from their parent country are at the mercy of the host government and authorities. In most cases, women tend to put their lives on the line to ensure that their families survive the harsh conditions in these camps. Most of the times, women are forced to go hungry by donating their food rations to their children. Moreover, most women lack production means due to gender inequality. As such, they rely on their male counterparts to survive which puts them at risk of being abused by the males. Most males aware of this fact tend to take advantage of these women by asking for sexual favors. In return, the men provide the women with basic needs while at the refugee camps which fuels their struggles further.
Women migrants leave their countries and move to other countries for the search of better opportunities. However, most of these women have little or no education thus curtailing them from getting decent jobs. The lack of proper education thus means that they can only secure low paying jobs such as manual or domestic workers. These types of jobs require the women to spend a lot of hours accomplishing complicated and numerous tasks to make ends meet. Their employers tend to take advantage of their poverty to exploit them. Moreover, these women are not in apposition to join or form labor unions as they are in foreign countries. Additionally, most of these women are illegal migrants who did not follow the right and standard immigration procedures. As such, they cannot risk exposing themselves to the scrutiny of the concerned authorities and have to bear the challenges without questioning. Such women are usually more concerned with helping their struggling families in their country of origin in monthly remittances.
The modern world has witnessed an increased demand for domestic workers especially in Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, and Oman among others. Women have turned out in large numbers to fill these positions as these jobs promise huge salaries as compared to similar jobs in the home countries. The problem sets in once these women arrive at their masters or mistresses home. Once they get here, their new masters keen on retaining them take their passports and telephones thus eliminating any chance for escape to find help. While here the domestic workers are abused, exploited and subjected to servitude by their masters who view them as lesser beings owing to their financial neediness (Kodoth, 2016). Sadly, these domestic workers are denied their basic rights such as decent meals, sleep, and a chance to be happy. Instead, they wake very early, work throughout the day and sleep after everyone else has retired to bed. In other saddening instances, their cruel masters rape them continually thus turning these domestic workers into objects of desires. In addition to this sexual abuse, these women are warned against reporting these incidences, as they would end up dead thus increasing their misery further.
Female migrants moving to the developed countries rely on recruiting agents and agencies to secure their passports and transport money. However, most of the recruiting agencies are not genuine as most of them are not registered business entities. In essence, these agents are indeed human traffickers disguised as genuine recruiting agents. These agencies only exist with the aim of making huge profits from the unsuspecting women who are keen on making it in life. In an effort to make these profits, these recruiting agents, promise these women lucrative job opportunities, which are irresistible to the unsuspecting women. Sadly, these job opportunities turn out to be non-existent as women find themselves in brothels where they are supposed to work as sex workers against their wishes (Demissie & Jackson, 2018). Moreover, the recruiting agencies make sure that these women do not have any money on them thus reducing their chance of escape. As a result, the women continue to suffer abuse in the hands of the clients who are only after satisfying their lusts. Efforts to contact these migrant women are usually futile considering that the agents are not registered in their countries of operation.
The concept of gender equality is aimed at ensuring that both men and women are treated equally in the existing social, political, and economic spheres. However, many years later after this concept evolved, gender equality is still a distant reality. Instead, women continue to suffer most from the challenges that face humanity. The reason for this is the fact that women are still regarded as weak, powerless making them susceptible to abuse and neglect. This accepted reality has continually manifested in the workplace where female migrants continue to be treated harshly as they are considered lesser beings. According to Memela and Maharaj (2016), there are fewer agencies, which deal with women human rights as compared to the agencies advocating for men human rights. This proposition rings too when it comes to female migrants or refugees arriving in the destination country. Moreover, there are few policies, which are aimed at protecting the interests of female migrants, and the existing ones are ineffective. Sadly, the women who are running away from similar weak policies from their home country are likely to encounter the same in the destination countries. Such weakened policies thus mean that these women will continuously be subjected to discrimination, social exclusion discrimination, and prejudice. These challenges then come in the way of female migrants who are seeking better opportunities to uplift the lives of their dependents.
Policies regarding female migrants seeking asylum in developed countries rely heavily on gender perspectives. Most of the migrants are running away from hostilities in their home country as refugees and would want to get asylum in the destination countries. However, the existing policies are usually inconsistent resulting in poor and ineffective application processes. Sadly, the women bear the brunt of these ineffective policies, which leads to exclusion thus increasing their vulnerability further. In essence, the women immigrants who fail to get asylum is subject to many challenges as they lack the authority to demand consideration. Consequently, these women will be forced to eke out a living in dangerous and harsh workplaces to survive in the cruel environment. Unless these policies are adjusted to give priority to women, women migrants will continue to face immense challenges associated with immigration.
In conclusion, female migrants who make more than half of the total immigrants and refugees continue to struggle in their attempt to live better lives. The reason for increased struggles is the fact that they are considered weak and powerless in the face of increasing challenges. Some individuals are out to benefit from preying on these women by promising to help them secure lucrative employment opportunities in foreign countries. However, the dreams of these innocent women turn into nightmares once they realize that they have duped into slavery and abuse. The problem is made worse as the existing policies are not effective enough to end this problem owing to corruption and gender-based prejudices. Consequently, the female migrants continue to be exploited by being subjected to harsh and inhumane working conditions without hope for escape. It is important for labor organizations and human rights-based organizations and agencies to enforce policies, which protect the female migrants from abuse and exploitation.
References
Demissie, F. & Jackson, S. (2018). Ethiopian female domestic workers in the Middle East and Gulf States: an introduction. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 11(1), 1-5.
Kodoth, P. (2016). Structural violence against emigrant domestic workers and survival in the Middle East: The Effects of Indian Emigration Policy. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 28(1), 83-106.
Memela, S. & Maharaj, B. (2016). Challenges facing refugee women: A Critical Review. In J. Domínguez-Mujica (eds) Global Change and Human Mobility: Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Singapore
UN Women. Women refugees and migrants. Retrieved on 15 May 2018 from http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-refugees-and-migrants.
