From evidence to action: Tackling gender-based violence against migrant women and girls

Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2021

This policy brief explores the ways in which being a migrant accentuates the risks of women and girls to various forms of gender-based violence at all stages of migration and examines how this has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The brief concludes with a set of recommendations on how to reduce the risks of gender-based violence and improve the provision and coordination of essential services for women and girls.

Paid care work around the globe: A comparative analysis of 47 countries and territories

Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2021

This paper uses harmonized collections of national labor force datasets to compare the size and shape of the paid care sector around the globe. The paper then explores the relationship between the size of the care sector and various measures of need for care, finding very little evidence of relationship. Finally, the paper explores wages and working conditions for paid care workers in a subset of countries for which data is available.

Migrant women and remittances: Exploring the data from selected countries

Date: Friday, June 12, 2020

Analysing data from 11 national household surveys, this research found that, while women typically earn less than men and pay more in transfer fees, the average remittance amounts they send are the same as or even greater than those of men, implying that they tend to remit a larger portion of their earnings than do men. The research also showed that migrant women are more dependent on in-person cash transfer services to send remittances.

Guidance note: Addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women migrant workers

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2020

This guidance note highlights the emerging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women migrant workers, focusing on the key challenges and risks they face. It makes recommendations in the context of the economic and social response and recovery packages that governments are putting forward, supported by examples of existing good practices from around the world.

Leaving no one behind: Access to social protection for all migrant women

Date: Monday, January 20, 2020

Social protection is a universal human right and a key element of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. While this right unequivocally applies to migrants, irrespective of migration status, migrant women in particular often remain excluded. Against this backdrop, this policy brief discusses the barriers that migrant women face in accessing social protection and provides recommendations for States to meet their obligation to overcome these, particularly in relation to health care, maternity protection and essential services for victims and survivors of violence.

Transnational families, care arrangements and the state in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

Date: Thursday, December 5, 2019

This paper concerns the implications of migration within Central America for family life. Focusing on the case of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, it shows how Nicaraguan families develop strategies based on a history of informal and flexible caregiving. While these informal strategies allow families to navigate the challenges migration and family separation entail, they also contribute to continued vulnerability and reinforce the gendered burdens of caregiving within transnational families.

Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2019

Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Are we on track to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls? This report brings together the latest available evidence on gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, underscoring the progress made as well as the action still needed to accelerate progress.

Violence against women migrant workers: Report of the Secretary-General (2019)

Date: Friday, July 26, 2019

This report outlines the current context with respect to the problem of violence against women migrant workers. It provides information on the measures taken by Member States and activities undertaken within the UN system to address this issue and ensure the protection of migrant women’s human rights.

In brief: Policies and practice: A guide for gender-responsive implementation of the Global Compact for Migration

Date: Monday, December 10, 2018

A two-page brief providing an overview of UN Women’s “Policies and practice guide on gender-responsive implementation of the Global Compact for Migration”.

‘Love is not a passport to Sweden’: Intimate partner violence against migrant women and the proliferation of rights’ statuses

Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2018

This paper investigates how women’s right to live free from violence operates in the context of insecure immigration status. It identifies a tension between human rights and immigration control that is present in theory, policy frameworks, and migrant women’s lived experiences. It contends that this tension has led to a proliferation of rights’ statuses for migrant women who are exposed to intimate partner violence.