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Equal Rights, Equal Voices

A Roadmap for

Migrant Women in the EU

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Gender – fundamental structuring element

Intersectionality gender and ethnicity = compound women’s inequality and discrimination

Examples Employment rate by gender:

European Women Non European Women Men 56.3% 44% 71.3%

Unemployment

10% 19% 7.6%

City of Berlin:Estimated 50.000 undocumented migrant women in informal care sector

and private households

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Equal Rights – Equal VoicesMigrant women in the EU

1. Migration - increasing EU issue 2. Total lack of a gender perspective 3. Women as heterogeneous – issues of diversity4. Migrant women should be in a position to speak

for themselves rather on their behalf5. Facilitate migrant women’s voices to shape

European policies on migration6. Initiate a debate at European level on the

urgent need for an approach to integration/migration policies which take into account women’s rights

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Objectives of EWL long-term project with and for migrant

women• Bring together migrant women activists from across the

European Union and candidate countries to debate and exchange on the main challenges they experience in terms of integration and empowerment in European host countries

• Discuss opportunities to develop and strengthen networking between migrant women NGOs and with women’s organisations at national and European levels

• Strengthen relations between migrant women NGOs and EWL national co-ordinations - ensure a better visibility and representation of migrant women within EWL structures

• Ultimate objective: development of specific focus/space of migrant women: either specific structure within EWL or independent

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Actions to date

Public seminar and workshops with migrant women activists identified by EWL national co-ordinations – 19-21 January 2007, Brussels

• Migrant women EU mailing list• Publication of the report which includes the conclusions

adopted during the event.• Participation of 4 of the migrant women activists in EWL

seminar on women and religion (18 May 2007)• Seminar at EWL GA on Advancing Migrant Women’s

Rights in the European Union (26 October 2007)• (2008) Pilot Project in some countries: National

capacity building, strengthen networking of migrant women’s NGOs at national and European level

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Issues identified at seminar in January 2007

• Independent legal status regardless of the reasons of migration• Equality of rights – recognition of qualifications• Document women’s voices and experiences – shape policies• European legal framework protection from Female Genital

Mutilation (FGM)• No cultural relativism to justify/legitimise violence against

migrant women• Guarantee of the right to work – eradicate all forms of

discrimination• Gender sensitive statistics and data on migration• Legal recognition and protection of care workers• Adopt and ratify UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant

Workers• Access to European citizenship• Reinforce capacity building of migrant women’s grass root

organisations• Develop partnership and co-operation with countries of origin

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Asylum is not gender neutral

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www.womenlobby.org