Women en route | Overcoming constant challenges to belong

Asylum seeking and refugee women leave their homes for many reasons. To escape conflict and devastation in their countries, to flee from violence and persecution and situations of severe poverty and destitution.  

Women and girls are also vulnerable to gender-based-violence in their countries of origin, during their journeys, as well as in their destination countries. They face specific challenges and protection risks in transit, including family separation, psychosocial stress and trauma, health complications (particularly for pregnant women), physical harm and injury.  

The UN has reported that at least 1 in 5 refugees or displaced women are estimated to have experienced sexual violence, with the situation continuously getting worse. The trauma of these experiences has long-lasting, damaging effects on their lives, physical and mental health, and impedes their integration in the destination country. 

Although migration for women is more difficult due to their lack of means and traditional care duties, the number of refugee women is, in fact, rising. We are often asked why more men arrive on our shores than women. There are a few reasons for this. The journey is dangerous. The populations in refugee camps in countries such as Lebanon, actually, have much higher numbers of women and children than men, unable to continue the dangerous journey. Additionally, a sad but true factor is that women and children are less likely to survive the dangerous route.   

For those that do make it, the harrowing journey across the Mediterranean is not the end of their search for protection. Once they arrive in Malta, they come up against a system full of hurdles.  

From being deprived of liberty with very little information that they likely do not understand, to lengthy and distressing asylum interviews often rejected as their stories are not believed, to life in open centres, often in unhygienic and unsafe conditions.  

Women also face greater challenges in integration. Learning English and/or Maltese sometimes with limited education, finding a job (sometimes for the first time in their life) and balancing all of this with family and childcare responsibilities can be incredibly difficult. Women with children also carry the worry of what will happen when their children reach the age of 18 – born and growing up in Malta, with very little connection to the country that their parents call home. This is something that was highlighted just this week by Commissioner for Children, Antoinette Vassallo, who acknowledged the need for regularisation of children not only born here but also those who arrived here at a young age as well as their parents and others who have been rejected for asylum but still active members of society.

At JRS Malta, we accompany, serve and advocate for asylum-seeking and refugee women in a number of different ways: from social work, support with access to education and healthcare, counselling services and legal support. We are immensely grateful to our volunteers who give their time to help upskill our female clients, assisting them with language classes and computer skills and to the British High Commission who have funded a series of English classes just for women.  

We have been able to watch them grow and learn as they form bonds with the group and see the benefits of offering support tailored to them. Our educational case worker provides invaluable support for clients, helping women reach their potential and see their value, worth and ultimately helping them navigate a system that is fraught with challenges.   

For me personally, I am so blessed to work with a team of extraordinary women (and a handful of men) who add so much value to the work we do. Working with refugee women highlights just how important it is to remember that migrant women are not a homogenous group.  

Everyone comes with their own story, their own needs and challenges, and most importantly their own skills and attributes to offer to society. Refugee and migrant women play such a crucial role in our community. We need to work better to empower them to live their lives with dignity and ensure that their voices are heard in the decisions that affect them. 

Words by Beth Cachia, Advocacy and Research Coordinator.