Feminist Approaches to Global Migration

Women comprise slightly less than half of the total population of immigrants across the world. As advocacy and fight for equal rights, opportunities, and identity for women continue, migration opens doors to global education for immigrant women to obtain personal autonomy, independence, empowerment, and a chance of earning higher wages than what they would have earned in their home countries. On the opposite end, women may also face oppression, gender inequality, and discrimination based on their ethnicity, class, and race through migration. This chapter highlights the rewards and drawbacks experienced by migrant women and feminist theory approaches to global migration. Examining the experience of migrant women using feminist theory underpinnings could potentially lead to deeper understanding and recommendations for international policies as well as evidence-based, culturally competent interventions to assist women migrants.