Webinar Report – Women on the Move: Gender, Rights, and Migration

Governments must take immediate and decisive feminist action to reform oppressive labour laws and enforce existing policies to safeguard the rights of women migrant workers, who, despite their vital contributions to global economies, continue to face gender-specific barriers. This was the central message of our inaugural public webinar held on March 19th, led by an all-woman panel of survivor leaders from our network.

Women on the Move: Gender, Rights, and Migration explores the challenges faced by migrant women and outlines the urgent steps needed governments must take to ensure their rights are upheld and protected.

Speakers

• Lucy Turay – Founder, Domestic Worker Advocacy Network (DoWAN), Sierra Leone
• Suzanne Baldago – Migrant Workers Association, Bharain
• Ndagire Joanita Joshirah – Mwagale Foundation, Uganda
• Eseosa Eguamwense – Lived experience consultant & advocate, Nigeria

Key Takeaways

• Despite their essential contributions and increasing demand in the global labor market, migrant women face persistent gender-based barriers and exploitation, with real-world consequences for millions.
• Migrant domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, with violations often going unaddressed due to a lack of oversight in “hidden industries” and exploitative policies like the Kafala system.
• To ensure labour justice, governments must urgently prioritize migrant women’s voices in the development of migration policies and agreements.
• By investing in local resources and strengthening regional partnerships, leaders can create opportunities at home, turning migration into a choice rather than a necessity, and shifting the power balance in global labor markets.

Introduction

Migrant workers are a driving force behind the global economy, contributing significantly in different roles, across various sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, construction, medicine, and hospitality. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers, 167.7 million migrants were part of the labor force in their destination countries in 2022. Of these, 64.9 million were women.

“A significant proportion of migrants – 68.4 per cent – were employed in the services sector, compared to 51.5 per cent of non-migrants. This trend was largely driven by the global demand for care and domestic work, particularly among women. 28.8 per cent of migrant women and 12.4 per cent of migrant men were employed in [the] care economy, compared to 19.2 per cent of non-migrant women and 6.2 per cent of non-migrant men.” – International Labour Organization (ILO) December 16, 2024

The majority of migrants in the labor force are concentrated in Northern, Southern, and Western Europe, North America, and the Middle East. As populations in these regions age, more women from low-income countries are migrating to fill labor gaps.

Migration is not a gender-neutral experience

“Migration is not a gender neutral experience. It is a global phenomenon; thousands of people migrate every day, moving from their home countries to other countries. However, particularly for women, the rules are a lot more different. Women face unique, gender-specific challenges that leave them vulnerable to exploitation,” Eseosa Eguamwense pointed out, emphasizing that understanding these differences is crucial for policymakers.

The lived experience of women migrant workers is intersectional—they often navigate the challenges of working abroad, while simultaneously dealing with deeply-ingrained gender biases and cultural constraints, in both their home and host countries. As Lucy Turay, the Founder of Domestic Worker Advocacy Network (DoWAN), pointed out, these biases and beliefs have real-life consequences for migrant women.

“Sometimes, it is really difficult when it comes to migration for women [in comparison to] men…particularly in the labor markets. Because most times, the good opportunities are given to men while women are given lesser opportunities. And when it comes to the salary rate, a woman doing the same job as a man may, at the end of the day, not receive the same salary, which is gender discrimination. And it’s really, really affecting us.”

Lucy, whose organization supports repatriated domestic workers in Sierra Leone, explains that for mothers, the decision to travel abroad for work is particularly difficult, as it often means leaving their children in the care of extended family or guardians.

“Over 18 million women, according to UN reports, are going for domestic work not only in the Gulf, but around the globe. And out of these women, most will end up being mothers. That is not something that men will experience. When they become mothers, their children do not have the same rights as other children, particularly domestic workers. Their children end up being abused, and are denied opportunities to have a loving family.”

Women are not commodities

Speaking from Uganda, where she runs the Mwagale Foundation, Ndagire Joanita Joshirah highlighted that high unemployment rates push many young people to seek opportunities abroad, often taking jobs beneath their skill levels and qualifications. The lack of viable employment options at home makes job seekers vulnerable to exploitation by middlemen and agents who capitalize on their limited knowledge, policy loopholes, and weak local laws.

“The Kafala law system is really, really affecting us. It has led women to become more of commodities, not workers, which really hurts me so much because we need to address this. Women are not commodities! Women are workers like everyone else, but we are mostly targeted by the Kafala law system, which makes our employers have significant control over us. At the end of the day, we don’t have freedom for anything as women. And yet we migrated from our countries to come and seek greener pastures. At times, greener pastures become fire for us, which is sad.”

Governments must do more

As recently reported in this New York Times special feature, the Kafala system is rife with abuses, often with serious consequences for survivors. Since domestic labour often takes place in environments where governments and labour organisations can offer little oversight or protection, violations and abuses often go unreported and undressed in host countries. Local laws and systems are slanted in the favour of citizens, employers, or recruitment agents.

While state agencies in migrants’ home countries are taking steps to improve safe labor migration, our speakers emphasized that more must be done to protect worker rights, by centering migrant concerns and lived experiences.

“For the government, as you sign bilateral agreements, please involve people who have been migrant workers and migrant workers themselves because the terms and conditions, and the things you talk about in the agreements, in most cases do not favor migrant workers. And secondly, stop hiding the agreements because these agreements are signed for us and we don’t know what is in the agreement,” Joanita adds.

Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has established a special department to handle migrant labour and human trafficking concerns, but, as Joanita explained, the impact of these efforts is limited by resource constraints. While local civil society organizations step in to provide support, the demand for services currently outpaces their capacity.

Speakers also urged policymakers to invest in local resources and strengthen regional partnerships, so that migration becomes a choice rather than a necessity. By creating opportunities at home, leaders can shift the power balance between job-seekers and employers, reducing the risk of migrant worker exploitation.

“Let migration be an option because migration is not an option when it comes to most countries. That is the only solution to the problem. So if you can identify your resources and empower your people in a way that they can be sustainable, migration can be an option,” says Lucy.

Migrant Women Leading Change

In the face of these challenges, migrant women are leading the fight for labor justice, demonstrating feminist leadership through their resilience, collective action, and consistent commitment to human rights.

“A feminist approach for me as a migrant leader is fundamentally about advocating for the rights and dignity of migrant women. That involves listening to their voices, addressing the unique challenges they face, and challenging unfair systems. A feminist approach must be both bold and inclusive, positioning us at critical crossroads where the rights of women are often at stake,” explained Network leader, Suzanne Baldago.

In her capacity as the Founding Chairperson of the Migrant Workers Association in Bahrain Suzanne recently presented a report on key concerns of Bahraini migrant workers, providing policy recommendations for states and partners.

“This [work we do] is very important because, historically, survivors have not been given the space to lead. We have not been given the space to influence decisions to include our voices, nor have we been engaged with the dignity that we deserve…to determine the cause of our own story and the cause of our lives,”Eseosa said in conclusion, adding that this webinar is the first of a series of survivor-led discussions the Global Migrant Workers Network will host this year.

You can watch the full video here http://youtube.com/watch?v=ej4H9eMKZbE