Ensuring legal access to work and education is key for migrant women and children

By Andrea Moran

As participants stepped inside the Salvation Army's main hall for the CSW event on migrant women, there was a stark difference between last year's event.

This year? There were no migrant women on the panel.

This year, no migrant women spoke on the panel.

The current political climate and recent executive orders have sent waves of fear through migrant communities. This year, migrant women were not willing to speak publicly about their issues and experiences at this United Nations Commission on the Status of Women's (CSW) parallel event on March 13th, said Judith Wager, Deputy President of OMEP, the organization which hosted and moderated the event.

“This calls more attention to why we’re here today,” Wagner said. She said migrant women’s voices have always been silenced, and by not feeling comfortable to speak at Monday’s event, they have been silenced further.

Despite this, the event, “Empowerment of Migrant Women: Impact on their Children’s Educational Outcomes and Resilience”  featured a panel of leaders from Save the Children to the Arab American Family Support Center. Speakers spotlighted the gaps in research and advocated for top-down ways to safeguard the “safety and dignity” of migrant mothers and their children.

While the Syrian refugee crisis has created the largest displacement of people in modern history, Latin American migrants were a strong focus of the event. Specifically, the children who are left behind when a parent migrates. Migrants from Latin America, seeking better economic opportunities or fleeing gang violence in their home countries, have increased, especially the number of unaccompanied minors, said Deborah Jones, Director and UN Representative of Save the Children.

Milan added that while the topic of children left behind is researched in academia, it’s largely absent in global debates about migrants. One reason is perhaps the lack of statistics, as Jones said that it’s difficult to calculate the number of children who stay behind when a parent migrates. 

Save the Children is currently conducting research on this topic in Guatemala and Honduras, studying the psychosocial impacts on these children and the new family structures which emerge when a parent migrates. Jones said that children who have a parent who has migrated are more likely to have negative educational outcomes, lower self esteem, and are at risk for gang involvement. Jones said that more research is needed on this topic, and recommends psychosocial training for school staff who work with these children.

While the trauma and psychosocial impacts are a serious issue for children left behind, Milan stressed the need to see the potential positive effects of migration when a parent and child migrate together.

“There is a widespread perception that migration is negative for children,” he said. “But if a woman’s labor and migration rights are protected, it could be a positive experience" he said, emphasizing that if a woman migrates to a place where there's longterm opportunities and laws in place which ensure that she access to legal employment and education, it can be a more secure and positive experience.

The NY Declaration, adopted by heads of state at a UN summit in 2016, affirms the importance and educational needs of migrant children. The declaration also committed to developing a global migration compact. However, Milan said that this in the works global compact lacks sufficient language in addressing the educational needs of migrant children. He said the global community must develop a set of recommendations to ensure these rights are included in this upcoming compact, which is set for 2018.

“A child should always have access to education, despite migratory status,” Milan said.

Challenges of Women's Political Participation in Latin America

Women can’t do politics.  Women don’t know about politics.  Women don’t want to participate in politics.  These three statements were outlined as major prejudices facing women’s political participation by the moderator of the Challenges of Women’s Political Participation in Latin America session at the NGO CSW on Tuesday, March 17, 2015.  Representatives from a variety of Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, met to share and discuss the progress and challenges facing Latin American women’s involvement in political processes. 

           

The speakers highlighted the progress women in politics have made in Latin American countries since the Beijing Platform for Action, noting specifically the three current female presidents in South America and an increase of female participation in politics.  Additionally, the contributions and potentials of the youth population were highlighted, with the speaker noting that the majority of the audience consisted of young people.  Further challenges were identified, including eliminating political violence, which consists of acts, omissions, or other manifestations of injustices, to women.  Political violence can take the form of actual physical violence or less latent forms, such as the denial of resources to women, the refusal of political parties accept or support female candidates, or media judgment based on female politicians’ appearances rather than political positions.

In order to combat the various social, political, and cultural forces working against women in politics, the panelists advocated that simply talking about politics with other women was an accessible way to participate.  Women can also increase their political involvement by learning about how the political system in one's context functions.  Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were cited as essential for continuing support for women’s political involvement and movement toward gender parity.  The NGOs sponsoring the panel (Red Mujeres, Desarrollo, Justicia y Paz, AC and the Women’s Democracy Network) spoke of the educational opportunities they offer to empower women politically, socially, and culturally so they can spread their knowledge to friends and family in their home communities.

\The panelists from Red Mujeres, Desarrollo, Justicia Y Paz (Red Women, Development, Justice and Peace) and the Women’s Democracy Network ended the session with a question and answer period, where additional challenges and successes were presented, including the prevalence of violence committed against women by other women.  The session ended with the reminders that although men and women must work together to achieve gender equity, it is essential for women to support other women.