Women in International Migration

Women in International Migration

                                                                    “Migratory birds are also women”

                                                                                       by Mirjana Morokvasic (1984)

One of the important factors of change is migrant women. Because they transform Social, cultural and political norms between communities. Immigrant women contribute to the economic development of the countries they come and go to. Despite their many positive effects, Migrant women are among the most vulnerable members of society in international migration. Immigrant women generally have lower employment rates than native women or male immigrants and are paid less than men. Migrant women also face risks of gender-based exploitation, violence and abuse, including trafficking.

In many articles on migration, it was emphasized that the migration studies until the 1970s were always told with a man in front of them, "with the man", "behind the man", "after the man", regardless of gender differences. In other words, it is thought that migrating women are considered as passive extras of an event carried out by men. In addition, in the studies of this period, it was frequently emphasized that immigrant women were transformed into the stereotype of "victim immigrant woman" as they are the carrier and protector of traditional values.

Mirjana Morokvasic's (1984) article titled "Migratory Birds Are Also Women" is seen as the beginning of academic research examining migration movements from a gender perspective. Morokvasic in this article; He emphasized that women have always worked and played an important role both economically and demographically in the phenomenon of migration all over the world, but since they were excluded from economic activities, immigrant women were sociologically invisible until the 1980s.

From the results of the survey conducted with 60 women to investigate the economic activities of Turkish women immigrants in London, it was concluded that the Turkish women's migration to Britain and the women's migration to Germany with the guest labor system are not similar. Migrant women in Germany were seen as passive and subordinate to their husbands. In London, where there is a higher demand for women's labor, it has been observed that women participate more actively in migration. However, it was also emphasized that the active role of women in the migration process does not mean a radical change in traditional, patriarchal and gender relations. It has been stated that the reason why women play an active role in the migration process is the protection and rights provided by British law to women as a result of the influence of the women's movement, which has been fighting for many years to end gender-based violence. The words of one interviewee: “Women have rights in this country. They do not have to put up with the beating and cheating of their husband. There are many examples of people being imprisoned for inflicting violence on their wives. Everything is different here”.

However, another academic study finds the thesis that most of the studies that regard migrant women as a problem, that all women who immigrated from Turkey to Germany are "victim" women who are imprisoned at home. The survey study conducted with women living in Karacadağ village of Kulu District of Ankara and immigrating in connection with their husbands in 1974 was evaluated as follows. It was concluded that half of the women who immigrated from Turkey to Germany worked in paid jobs, earned money for their work, perhaps for the first time in their lives, were able to enter the public space more easily, and to develop relationships with people outside their family.

As a result of the political changes in the world in the 1990s and the increase in the number of refugees and unregistered immigrants, after the 2000s, the issue of women and migration has been handled according to the gender roles adopted socially and culturally by female researchers from among the immigrants themselves. Migrations that took place in recent years have become different from the migrations of previous centuries, feminized and politicized.

Feminist theorists have started to bring up the power of women to influence migration as social actors in their migration studies. They stated that women are individuals who make choices and plans for themselves and their families, and they are not just passive individuals who follow their spouses during the migration process. It has been emphasized that women, as active individuals, can migrate to improve their economic and social status as well as their families. For example; According to feminist theorists, women migrate to escape the physical violence and oppressive relationships they face, and more importantly, the gender norms and normative expectations of the communities they live in, and migration is an empowering and liberating experience for many women.

As a result, the position of women in studies examining the place of women in migration studies has undergone a serious transformation in the historical process. With the more active participation of women in migration processes and the increased visibility of women in the labor market, the number of women-oriented studies has increased and the migrant woman has become more visible.

The feminization of migration is linked to four processes:

-- The rate of female immigrants is higher in economically developed countries.

-- In general, the number of female immigrants has increased.

-- Women have started to take part in all types of migration, from labor migration to human trafficking and refugee migration, leaving the classical female migration movements such as family reunification or marriage.

-- In the target countries, nursing, nursing, housekeeping, babysitting, etc. identified with women. The demand for such jobs has increased.

In general, the reasons why immigrant women are seen as dependent and unskilled labor can be explained as follows:

1) Consideration of women as a secondary and dependent element in the migration process:

Women are seen as a secondary and dependent element of the migration process as a follower of men, family, relatives, as spouses, brides or children. Because in international law, a woman is in a secondary position shaped according to her husband as a wife, in immigration status. Women both provide basic care and contribute to the socialization processes of family members. They transfer traditional and cultural values ​​to future generations. Women immigrants support their children by teaching them both their own ethnic culture and the values ​​of the dominant culture, due to their motherhood role. Here, it is seen that the roles imposed on women by the traditional patriarchal society are more dominant on immigrant women. Especially in cases of forced migration, women continue their lives in isolation from the environment in which they have just settled. In studies examining the integration of immigrant women into the host society, immigrant women who join their spouses through family reunification and who are generally claimed to be unable to fully adapt to the basic values ​​of the host societies such as language and liberal lifestyle, due to their role in raising children and transferring their values ​​to future generations, It is seen as an obstacle to integration in the host country and is held responsible for the failure of social integration. Therefore, a series of policies have been designed to prevent low-educated female immigrants from entering the country through marriage. However, willing migrant women overcome the negative consequences of migration more easily with the support of their families and their desire to learn the language in a short time.

2) Position of migrant women in the labor market:

It is seen that immigrant women are employed in jobs that do not require many qualifications such as domestic services, care services, waitresses, and in tourism, prostitution and entertainment sectors compared to immigrant men and resident women. Countries receiving immigration demand either highly skilled labor or low-paid and unskilled labor such as domestic care services in terms of the needs of their labor markets. Women sometimes have to work in low-paid and illegal jobs to support their families and relatives they left in their country. Women immigrants from the middle or upper class and with a high level of education start working to maintain their standard of living before they immigrated. Women with lower income and education level who benefit from family reunification face problems such as language insufficiency, professional deficiencies, and inability to adapt to culture. Generally, child and elderly care, house cleaning and similar home services, pet care, patient care, etc., which require intensive labor. they work in services. The fact that domestic services are provided in households has been seen as a “shelter” for undocumented immigrants who are afraid of deportation and have a higher risk of being detected in public workplaces, but on the other hand, it has also led to frequent exploitation and abuse.

3) Being victims of human trafficking:

Migrant women who are victims of human trafficking are forced to work or become slaves of the sex trade due to debt or similar ties to the individual or organization that brought them to the country. Sex work is known as the most victimized area. Women are more vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse during the international migration process. In particular, they are exposed to various types of exploitation and abuse, such as long working hours and low wages, if they enter the country without permission and unregistered means. When the subject is considered in general, female immigrants are in a more disadvantageous situation due to the fact that they are seen as foreigners from another country, and because of the existing gender role and ethnic differences.

In the graphic at the beginning of our article, according to the graphic showing the distribution of male and female immigrants between 2000-2020 by regions; The number of male and female immigrants in 2020 is roughly equivalent in most regions. in Europe, North America and Oceania While the number of religious immigrants slightly exceeds the number of male immigrants, the share of women among all immigrants is slightly less than 50 percent in Central and South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. In contrast, both Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa and West Asia appear to be migrating significantly more men than women.

Over the past decades, the number of female immigrants has increased faster than the number of male immigrants in both Europe and North America. This trend is associated with a number of factors, including gender differences in survival and migration policies. Compared to other regions, the number of female immigrants has increased in Europe, North America as a result of migration policies driven by population aging and increased gender-specific demand for care-related jobs resulting from changes in labor preferences of indigenous women. In the care of the elderly, migrant women from lower-income countries work for low wages and have the child they left behind and their elderly mother or father look after the immigrant women they employ in their own country for lower wages. This constitutes the global chain of care.

Migration movements significantly affect women's education, social life, marriage and family relations, business life and health. Apart from the difficulties experienced due to not knowing the language of the migrated region, migration may prevent individuals from completing their education. As a result of migration movements, people with different backgrounds have to continue their lives with different language, religion, tradition and cultural elements. Women suffer doubly injustice both because of their gender and because they are immigrants.

When the areas where women immigrants work and the countries they come from are examined, it is seen that domestic workers are in Moldova, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; It has been determined that textile workers come from Moldova and Romania, while restaurant and food sector workers come from countries such as the Philippines, Ukraine, Pakistan, Bulgaria and Romania. Regardless of the reason for migration, women and children are among the risk groups most affected by migration. Existing studies highlight the poverty and employment-based experiences of xenophobia, racism, discrimination, persecution, oppression, and intolerance that migrant women often experience. The income level of the place of migration affects women's health in a way that worsens or improves.

Migration affects not only the immigrating individuals, but also the mental states of the local people in the migrated place. On the other hand, the feeling of insecurity, fear and anxiety cause prejudices for the individuals in the immigration area.

Since Gaziantep is a border city with Syria, it has received quite high numbers of immigrants from Syria after 2011. Syrian immigrants in this province have been the source of many migration studies. In a study based on field research, 38 Syrian migrant women were interviewed in Gaziantep. One of these women, Kevser, frequently talked about her living difficulties and the exclusion she faced at work.

“We were not very liked by the Turks here. We already know our mistakes. We came, house rent was expensive, it was very difficult for them. For example, even the Turks could not find a house in their own house, and neither could we. They made them a nuisance, so they excluded them.” (Kevser, 21 years old, married, university graduate).

Nehle states that they are not liked by the local people and that despite this, she does not see social exclusion as a big problem. She states that there are "coyote people" among those who came from Syria and that she justifies the reaction of the Turks.

“I still give the Turks their rights. We have become a burden to them. Some coyote people came with us. Because of them, Turkish people do not treat us well. So we have no right to say anything to them. They're right after all, so you don't cause much trouble so I don't feel bad." (Nehle, 35 years old, married, 8 children, illiterate).

Syrian women, whose attire differs from the way local women cover and dress, are aware of the fact that it is easily known which nationality they belong to. For this reason, they try to make their Syrian identity invisible, which causes exclusion. Syrian women told that they changed their headscarves and clothes and started to dress like local women so that their nationality would not be noticed.

“We changed the way we tie scarves and our clothes so that they don't know Syrians and we don't get bad reactions. Not every woman did it, but they usually do.” (Fatima, 26 years old, married, 2 children, illiterate).

While early marriage is accepted as normal among Syrians, according to the information obtained from the Foreigners Department of Gaziantep Police Department, especially Syrian women living outside the camps try not to return to Syria.

n are married by their families. However, the main problem here is that “women and young girls are married to local households as second or third wives”. In addition, it was observed that the rates of divorce and women's depression increased in Gaziantep and Kilis, as the issue of Syrian young women also caused serious anxiety and tension among the women of the region. Polygamy, which is normally welcomed in Syria, causes not only Syrian women but also the fragmentation of existing family structures in Turkey, as well as changes in the social structure in Turkey.

There are also studies showing that migration can have positive effects for migrant women. According to these studies, crossing boundaries can be empowering for women and positively transformative in gender relations. According to a study that tries to understand the migration on Syrian women, for Rana, who lives in an oppressive environment in Syria, her life and marriage in Turkey are liberating for her:

“When I came to Turkey, I felt human for the first time in my life. I am free in my home, free in my own life. I do everything of my own free will. Before everything, everyone ruled me. They were talking a lot about me, what he did, what he did, who was there with him, what he was doing, they were talking about me about everything, thank God, I didn't know that I would come here and start a life as if I was in the last phase of my life, and I would feel safe. I have never felt so safe in my life. My wife has given me the freedom of all kinds of behavior.” (Rana, 41, Izmir).

Another example; According to a study conducted with Palestinian refugees in West Berlin, Palestinian refugee men who immigrated to West Berlin and could not find a job lose their status as the head of the family, which meets the financial needs of the family, and lose their status in the family, while women lose their status in the family because they gain their economic independence thanks to the opportunities offered by the social state. status has risen.

Raxma Xasan Maxamuud, 36, a shepherd in the village of Haya in Somalia, has been trying to live in a homeless camp for three years. According to Raxma, semi-nomadic shepherds from Somalia have noticed that the rains have become uneven for the last 20 years and that the calving times of the animals are different. Rivers and lakes have disappeared. In the four-week drought experienced in Haya in 2016, all of his animals died, and the wells dried up for the second time in five years. Food began to decrease, diarrhea became widespread. Now that all their animals have died, the villagers have gone to the domestic refugee camp.

According to the World Bank, by 2050, 143 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America will have to migrate due to climatic conditions.

In the last century and in today's century, women's leaving their countries and emigrating to other countries have been researched and discussed. Whether she follows her husband as a victim or invisible, or joins the workforce voluntarily or compulsorily, the person makes an active or passive choice in every decision. While developed European countries are the target of migrant women, it was not asked whether the local people chose this situation during their transit through Turkey and stuck here.

Staying or leaving the living conditions of the country in which she lives is still the decision of the migrant woman; Going out on the roads and struggling for places she doesn't know shows that a woman is strong, not weak. Because, on the other hand, there are women who cannot even make that decision and who watch the work of immigrant women from different cultures in the labor market from their home. Even though human rights-based policies are on the agenda with human rights-based policies throughout the world and in particular countries, women's patriarchal gender-based problems do not seem to come to an end. However, it should be feared that women like Raxma, who had to leave their home and live in a refugee camp in their own country due to drought as a result of climate change, will increase, and actions should be accelerated in this regard. Migration influx that may be caused by climate change; It will not be like migrations made to escape war, oppression, or to live in better conditions. Not to migrate from one country to another, there will be no place to go on the earth's lands. The subject we will discuss will not be the migration of Syrians, Afghans or women, but to where in the world or the world.

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