Political Empowerment for Female Migrants

Overview
  • INSTITUTE:
    UNU-GCM
    SERIES:
    Female Agency, Mobility and Socio-cultural Change
    VOLUME:
    03/10
    TITLE:
    Political Empowerment for Female Migrants
    AUTHORS:
    by Janina Pescinski
    PUB DATE:
    2016•11•10
    ISSN WEB:
    2412-2173 (Female Agency, Mobility and Socio-cultural Change)
    COPYRIGHT YEAR:
    2016

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    This policy report identifies strategies to promote political empower- ment for female immigrants in the European Union. Migrants lack ac- cess to participation in formal government structures; therefore, poli- cies are made for and about them without their input. Although certain forms of political participation are reserved for citizens, immigrants find alternative ways of exercising their political agency by practicing their human rights to freedoms of association, assembly, and expression. Female migrant leaders play a central role in establishing immigrant women’s associations, through which migrant women are empowered as political actors. Governments and the local and national levels should promote the political empowerment of female migrants by putting in place policies that facilitate the creation and sustainability of migrant women’s associations and establishing platforms for those associations to dialogue with the broader community and government.