Why an Intersectional Feminist Approach to Migration Policy is Important and How You Can Contribute

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Author: Janine Röttgerkamp

Janine Röttgerkamp holds a B.A. in Cultural Theory and Economics and is currently pursuing her M.A. in Cultural Science focusing on International Relations and Foreign Policy. She is especially interested in migration and security policy from an intersectional feminist point of view. In the past, she has volunteered for an NGO in Peru, interned in German and Peruvian Foreign Policy, researched with the Cuban Cultural Research Ministry and has just been active with a refugee aid organization at the European external border in Dunkerque, France. Janine has zero tolerance for injustices and is constantly learning more to discover possibilities to make creating a more just society her profession.

* The article explicitly refers to irregular migrants to emphasise that no human being is illegal or should be called that.

When I was volunteering on the forefront of the European external border in Calais/Dunkirk in France, I noticed that there is a huge gender and diversity gap when you compare volunteers and NGO workers with officials in migration policy. On-site there are predominantly women and people with different ethnic or religious backgrounds volunteering, whereas when you look into who holds decision power in politics, you will find mostly white men. It didn’t really surprise me, because it is the same as in other disciplines which for years have been dominated by old, white men. But it made me question the overall approach migration policy has, not only in terms of representation in executing bodies but also concerning the content and approaches of policies. 

In my opinion, a feminist foreign policy is the most promising approach to international politics and foreign affairs and could shape our global future in a sustainable and equal way. In this article, I want to shed light on the specific importance of an intersectional feminist migration policy and how you can contribute to this much-needed change.

I explicitly talk about irregular migration and refugees as this is the group facing the biggest hindrances caused by international and national politics which could be changed by implementing feminist migration policies. Therefore, I want to look through the feminist lens on the gendered impacts of migration, meaning different power relations and conditions for people on the move, and how feminist intervention can influence the debate from a policy viewpoint. The main question is ‘how can we balance out the asymmetry between the needs of irregular migrants and the entitlement of host states?’.

What is migration?

Migration is a generic term used for different types of human movements, such as internal or circular, irregular, voluntary or involuntary, international, permanent, temporary, or return-migration amongst others. Of course, there are also different types of migrants, like short-term or long-term migrants. The term ‘migrant’ is often falsely used for refugees and unauthorised migrants, who make up the smallest part of migrants but are the ones who face the most inequalities and have to deal with inhumane measures. The category of migrants correctly includes everyone who changes their country of usual residence, irrespective of the reason for migration or legal status which, for example, includes ex-pats or people studying abroad. 

Migration is directly connected to and influenced by factors such as economic failure, climate change, and war. It is important to note that migration isn’t a new phenomenon but has existed as long as our species has. Borders of nation-states, on the contrary, are a more recent concept that hinder people from moving freely. 

Discourse around migration

In recent years, political debates and narratives about migration have become increasingly hostile, especially in host countries of the global north. 

The term ‘migration’ is often used to refer to irregular migration* from the global South to the global North including mainly the EU, USA, and Australia who implement harsh immigration policies that create hostile environments for refugees and immigrants. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) defines irregular migration as “movement that takes place outside the regulatory norms of the sending, transit and receiving country” (IOM,2011). 

While this article focuses on irregular migration and the double standard involved, I want to indicate that migration is more than human movement from the global South to the global North. This is actually the smaller part of migration and internally displaced persons (IDPs), regular migrants, and movement within continents and in the opposite direction from North to South make up the majority of migration numbers.

Political framing in the global North tries to make us believe that migration is a huge problem for a nation’s security. While national security is an important concern, we need to acknowledge that border policies created to prevent irregular migration undermine the human security of the people exposed to them. This highlights the need for a feminist migration policy that is centred around human security. If we look at the root causes of why people leave their birth countries, it is often the structural, economic, or security reasons that stem from colonial history, imperialism, interventions, and ongoing oppression which shows the global North’s implication in the displacement and suffering and calls for a feminist foreign policy, which includes and analyzes the positionality and historical continuities of a nation. 

Vulnerable groups in migration processes

In recent years, the global numbers of migrating women and children have constantly risen. As reported by Human Rights Watch, refugee women, as well as internally displaced women, are especially vulnerable to abuse and discrimination based on gender as a system of power that influences every part of the migration process. This includes issues such as forced prostitution, gendered violence, but also the higher probability of a lack of health care, especially reproductive health care, and physical and economical abuse. Married women might lack legal autonomy, because in some countries their residence permits are dependent on their husband’s, meaning that legislation doesn’t provide them with any specific protection against abuse.

As there is already very scarce sex-disaggregated data on this, there is unfortunately even less reliable data on refugees and unauthorised migrants positioned outside of the gender binary and from the LGBTQIA+ community. As a vulnerable group, they need to be included in an intersectional feminist approach. They, too, are facing similar threats and abuse by insurgent groups, governments, or other refugees as they flee from war and conflict, natural disasters, or persecution in their countries of origin. And they are also often confronted with the risk of exploitation by being forced into informal jobs and have higher health-related risks during the period of moving places. 

Policies and legislation concerning migration generally fail to take into account the specific problems that migrant women and LGBTQIA+ migrants face and as statistics referring to them are scarce, incomplete, or non-existent policymakers can’t effectively address these issues.

It is, therefore, crucial to understand the intricacies of gender, migration, and global power dynamics and to start collecting sex-disaggregated data in order to design programs and policies that enhance personal security and protection and decrease the economic and social costs for female and LGBTQIA+ migrants.

How an intersectional feminist approach can make a difference

At the core of feminist foreign policy stands the concept of intersectionality, which is important especially in this case because migration is embedded in the particularities of gender, class, religion, ability, ethnicity, and other aspects of people’s identities. Equally important is the protection of human security before national security. When we change the focus from national security to human security, we shift to a humane and compassionate understanding of migration. The current migration policies based on exclusion do not live up to the European core values of human dignity, freedom, human rights, and equality. We need to understand that security policy is directly linked to migration policy and that we don’t need more militarisation to keep people secure. Ensuring security, instead, works best when we avoid dangers with foresight by implementing a people-centred approach that brings equal and just protection while at the same time meeting the needs of individuals.

How can we bring about change?

We need to follow Emtithal Mahmoud who said that if we want to create lasting change we need to put the most vulnerable people at the front of decision making and we should not only pass them the mic and listen to them, but we also need to put them in charge! 

We all have different outlooks on life, face distinct hardships, and varying dangers and have particular experiences in this world. This has to be reflected in policy, which is only possible if we have diverse policy-makers. Apart from representation, which is an obvious advantage, we also need to change the methods and practices, as described above, making them truly intersectionally feminist. And for that, we need decision-makers who think and work in an intersectional feminist way. We need people who constantly question the status-quo, reflect on their positionalities, ignorances, and privilege-markers, who think inclusively and empower each other, and who ask uncomfortable questions!

We need migration policy-makers shaping our global future who are disabled, migration scholars and researchers who are indigenous, migration field workers who are queer, migration policy analysts who are from the BiPOC community, female, and non-binary migration policymakers, and, generally speaking, intersectional feminists in migration policy. We need you and your expertise in the decision-making positions! 

I would like to encourage you to hold on to your ideas, even if they seem utopian to most and always remember that we can only change the status quo by being ambitious. While I know that it is far from easy to reach high positions as discriminating structures are meant to keep especially minority groups from them, I want to emphasise the importance of your wisdom. Keep on pushing, be uncomfortable, look out for allies and supporters, question the status quo, and then let’s try together to push for change to a humane and feminist approach to migration!

Resources and further reading

Published 12th October 2021

Edited by Ashvini Rae