Rural women's network

Forced migration and young rural women refugees:

Forced migration commonly “refers to the movements of refugees and internally displaced people" (IDPs). It is different from ‘voluntary’ migration because in the former there is no prior desire or motivation to leave (International Association for the Study of Forced Migration – IASFM). The main causes of involuntary displacement are wars and armed conflicts, although natural disasters and development projects are also to blame. There are other types of forced migration as well, but these are not rigid categories since sometimes causes overlap. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are some 50 million uprooted people around the world, including both refugees and IDPs. Around 75-80 per cent of them are women and children; women and girls account for an estimated 50 per cent of any displaced population.
Since the 1980s, there has been growing recognition that women have been disadvantaged in processes of forced migration. For instance, although women and children are the majority of the displaced in conflict situations, their needs and strengths were not taken into account in the planning and implementation of humanitarian assistance. This situation has changed, up to a certain extent, and many organizations and NGOs now include special programmes for displaced women and girls. As the focus has gradually expanded from ‘women’s’ to gender issues, refugees and IDPs are beginning to be seen as individuals whose specific needs and strengths should be taken into account before, during, and after displacement. However, many issues remain to be tackled. Women and girls still need special attention, together with other vulnerable groups. Recognition of gender-based persecution and the rights of women asylum seekers need to be strengthened, while protection and assistance of IDPs in general need to be improved. More attention should also be directed at development- and disaster-induced development, and their impacts on gender roles and relations.

Conflict-induced displacement.
Women are especially vulnerable in those informal, low-key armed conflicts that are a majority today. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable because of their disadvantaged position in society in general: they are the majority of the poor, have less access to education and employment opportunities, and are less mobile because of their traditional productive and reproductive roles. This can lead to higher mortality and morbidity among females during armed conflict, as women and girls are affected by physical and sexual violence, impoverishment, lack of access to basic goods and services, and gender discrimination. effects of the armed conflict are particularly severe in rural areas. women and girls living in rural areas, have limited socio-economic opportunities. During the war, women and girls experienced gender-specific abuses. Many of them lost relatives, suffered or witnessed atrocities, and some were forced to take part in the violence. Tens of thousands are forced to flee their homes and move to urban areas or to refugee camps, where they live without adequate assistance or protection. Many women and girls suffer from further physical and sexual abuse during displacement, often having to resort to prostitution or the exchange of sexual favours to obtain basic items and services for their survival and that of their families. Forced migration is one of the most visible consequences of armed conflict.

Development-induced displacement.
Conflicts are not the only cause of forced migration. Development projects, including dams, roads, ports, railways, mines, and logging, displace millions of people throughout the world. Development-induced displacement has serious human rights and socio-economic impacts. It breaks up entire communities and families, making it more difficult for them to cope with the uncertainty of resettlement. Women, for instance, are usually excluded from compensation policies, while the effects of displacement and resettlement on lone women, especially female heads of household, are not considered. However, women should not be seen as just victims. While being among the most vulnerable, women have also shown their strengths and capabilities in such contexts, often being at the forefront of resistance to development-induced displacement (see for example, the Save the Narmada Movement).
Disaster-induced displacement.
Natural disasters have caused major loss of life and widespread social, economic, and environmental destruction over the last decade. Women, due to their greater marginalization and gender inequalities, are thought to be more at risk, although there is a lack of gender-sensitive statistics. Their vulnerability arises from their unequal work burden, due to productive and reproductive responsibilities, their lack of control over resources, restricted mobility, limited education and employment opportunities. Those worst affected have been the poorest, with specific impact on poor, rural women because of cultural and gender ideologies – for instance, the moral and economic dependency of women on male relatives, restrictions on women’s mobility and paid work.
Migration is not a new phenomenon. People have moved from one place to another to seek better life or livelihood.
Poverty is a driving factor in migration. Undocumented and illegal migration has risen much more sharply today. Many of those who cross a border to take up employment, whether in the formal or informal sectors, do so as undocumented, or illegal, migrants. This again is not by choice. Since costs in migration are very high and unaffordable, Many migrants are recruited by agents with no pre payment but with the promise that the worker would pay when she works.
This form of recruitment has led to trafficking in persons. To the potential migrant, it is a survival strategy. Women and children are given false promises. They only discover the stark truth when they are forced into prostitution or made to work as slaves or sold as a bride. Here again prostitution is a multi billion dollar industry that has developed and expanded with the support of the state and its enforcement agencies. Women and children are slaves to traffickers and syndicates. Though, globally recognized as a Transborder crime, yet because of lack of political commitment and the quest for expansion of tourism and entertainment, the number has only increased.
The informalization of labor at the global market economy has led to the demand for women workers both in production and in services. The greatest demand has been in the unrecognized sectors of work like domestic work, entertainers, care givers and cleaners, such forms of work have not been recognized either because they have been done by women in their homes as housework or as entertainers have not been given recognition as it goes against moral norms and values. The perpetuation of such patriarchal norms only benefits the entertainment industry, the state and capital. Migration affects rural women in many ways. Today’s migration policy is a single entry policy. Women migrant workers go through various tests to be recognized as fit to work. They are tested for pregnancy. If she is tested positive for pregnancy, the women looses her work immediately and is forcefully deported. Such form of tests is racist and discriminatory and violates women’s reproductive rights. Many women who do enter into relationships are unable to continue with the relationship. They return single to become single parents. Many who are raped, get punished for adultery especially in the Gulf countries.
The forced labor export policy of the governments in fact has failed to protect the women migrant labor. On the other hand the state is very much interested in the remittances sent home. The question for us is, can forced migration protect the rights of women who are mainly from the rural communities? It is not possible . The agenda for migrant labor is to get the cheapest and most flexible labor to move forward the imperialist globalization agenda. Thus how will the destination countries bring in protective legislation to ensure rights are protected. There cannot be safe migration as well. This is another myth promoted by international institutions. Conditions of migration at the destination countries are unpredictable. Source countries have no say over the policies and regulations in the destination countries. The rural women who have become migrants within the current context of slave like wages and conditions will find it difficult to reintegrate and start livelihood.
Thus, if we believe that rural women must reclaim their rights to land, resources and themselves, then, forced migration needs to be arrested. The right to stay should be upheld while we respect the right to move in dignity.