Spotlight on African women’s struggle to rebuild a life they lost

THE stories of women who migrate, detailing how they endure multiple forms of intersecting violence, have been brought closer to the public thanks to a new platform launched, ahead of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign (GBV).

Women and Migration is a collaborative storytelling project about the journeys migrant women take, and what happens once they reach their destination.

Professor Floretta Boonzaier of

UCT’s Department of Psychology and Co-Director of the Hub for Decolonial Feminist Psychologies in Africa formed part of the research team.

This project was funded by the Worldwide Universities Network Research Development Fund.

Boonzaier and the international team of researchers collected testimonies from more than 100 women worldwide to shed light on how gender affects migration, and to highlight the resilience of those who seek a new life far from home.

The stories were grouped into eight case studies from around the world that cover each stage of the migration process, from the often dangerous journeys women take, to their acceptance or rejection by their destination country and their eventual resettlement or return.

“Zoning in on the narratives of women who have migrated and the precarity of their positions in the countries they migrate to is important for showing how, globally, women endure multiple forms of intersecting violence.

“This violence takes many forms from structural and systemic violence to physical and symbolic violence,” she said.

Shedding light on the struggles of

women close to home in South Africa Boonzaier and Ivan Katsere’s (a UCT PhD candidate) case study explores how more and more women were leaving southern African countries like Zimbabwe and Malawi to seek greener pastures in South Africa.

When they arrive, however, they are faced with xenophobia, violence and a daily struggle to make enough money to survive.

The case studies also include the experiences of teenage girls in Ethiopia who flee the strict confines of their rural homes to seek independence and a fresh start in the big city.

Another focuses on the many irregular migrants to the EU who are driven out of their country of origin by cases of corruption that makes daily life a struggle.

But that corruption follows them en route in the form of bribery, violence and sextortion.

Much greater advocacy was needed to address and end the violence against female migrants, said Boonzaier.

“Right now they receive little to no support and protection.

“By shedding a light on their plight we hope to raise awareness so that they can one day be free from the abuses they face as they struggle to rebuild a life they lost.”