Thursday 29 August 2013

How do gender norms relate to migration?



Wikigender, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC), Wikiprogress and Wikichild would like to hear your views on the linkages between the social norms that discriminate against women (such as harmful practices, restricted access to resources, limited decision-making power, or violence against women) and migration processes.

In September, the OECD Development Centre will publish an issues paper looking at migration from a gender perspective, based on new findings from the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). Wikigender, IOM, SMC, Wikiprogress and Wikichild would like to invite you to participate in an online discussion on the topic from 2 September at 9am until 15 September at 6pm (GMT+1). The main findings of the discussion will be featured in the issues paper and the outcomes of the discussion will be synthesised in a final report and available on Wikigender. The debate will focus on the following topic:


This online discussion will be a unique opportunity to discuss, exchange views and best practices on this issue. Participants are invited to share findings from their research or their own experiences of migration with other members of the discussion. The discussion will focus on the questions below:

How do gender norms relate to migration?
  • How do discriminatory social norms and practices (for example, women’s lower status in the family, violence and discrimination against women or restricted access to resources) relate to female migration? Do they act as an incentive to migrate for women?
  • Which discriminatory social norms and practices hinder female migration the most and why? What can be done about it?
  • Do social norms play a role in female migration in terms of choice of destination?
Impacts of gendered migration patterns
  • What role do social networks play in enabling female migration?
  • How does female/male migration impact on family dynamics in both the country of origin and destination?
  • How does increased female migration impact on gender norms in origin and destination countries?
  • Do you have examples of more restrictive social norms imported by migrants to their communities of origin?
Policy and data
  • What are the good practices (policies, initiatives, campaigns or programmes) that ensure women migrants’ human rights in both the country of origin and the country of destination?
  • What are some of the key indicators that are or could be collected to better understand the social and economic outcomes for female migrants? How can this be measured? 
We invite you to leave your comment in the section “Contribute!” of the discussion page. Here is the link: http://bit.ly/16TdlNJ and the hashtag used in Twitter is #migration

Estelle Loiseau
Wikigender Co-ordinator

1 comment:

  1. Indeed, there are various practices (policies, laws, financial programs) that should be taking place in order to ensure women migrants’ human rights.
    We would like to draw attention to the role of diaspora communities in supporting women migrants and the empowerment of women migrants as potential leaders in the diaspora.
    Migrant women constitute a significant and particular subgroup participating in the broader phenomenon of diaspora contribution to development. However, women's participation in diaspora activities often reflects gender inequalities existing in both origin and destination societies, which limit their access to leadership positions in migrant organizations. Thus, the importance of scaling up diaspora women's potential contribution to development by capitalizing on their motivation, skills and experiences.
    As concluded in the Haifa Declaration of 2005 during the "International Conference for Women Leaders on Migration and Gender Issues within the Millennium Development Goals" (organized by MASHAV- Israel's Agency for international Development Cooperation and MCTC- the Mount Carmel International Training Center) donor and recipient countries should create channels for women leaders in diasporas to enable them to be partners in development planning and programming and to actively support migrant women in diaspora communities, to engage in development efforts through their skills, knowledge and experience and to engage subsequent generations.

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