Many migrant women and girls lack equal access to socioeconomic opportunities and face heightened risks of violence and discrimination.  

Seventy million women and girls accounted for 41.5 per cent of the world’s international migrant workers in 2019. A significant 79.9 per cent are employed in high-demand services, including health care and domestic work. Women migrant workers are more likely than men to hold low-paid, low-skilled jobs and have limited access to support services. They face structural and systematic discrimination, and anti-migrant sentiment can be widespread. Out of 92 countries, on average, 28.1 per cent of people believe that immigrants negatively impact national development, despite ample evidence to the contrary. Migrant women and girls face higher risks of gender-based violence, including trafficking at all stages of migration. In 2020, women accounted for 64 per cent of detected victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and girls for another 27 per cent. Women and girls are three times more likely to experience physical or sexual violence during trafficking compared to men and boys. In 2023, 870 deaths of migrant women were recorded. Many others disappeared en route.

Achieving Goal 10 requires strengthening human rights protections for migrant women and girls. This includes measures to prevent, identify and address vulnerabilities during migration, in line with the Global Compact for Migration. Laws and policies must explicitly prohibit discrimination, ensure equal rights, services and opportunities, and provide targeted assistance. In 2021, a global review of international migration policies revealed that 15 out of 87 countries and areas still lacked formal mechanisms to make policies gender-responsive. 

Proportion of the population that believes the impact of immigrants on their country’s development is quite bad or rather bad, by sex, 2017-2022 (percentage)