Migrant women in the UK face a double challenge: navigating both immigration policies and gender inequalities. With the elections on the horizon, their voices remain unheard, highlighting the need for greater representation and recognition in the political sphere.
by Ana Dutra Tagliati
The UK has been undergoing many changes in the immigration system, raising concerns about what this means and the impact on the migrant population in the country.
With the UK general elections hovering around the corner, many wonder how the results will affect migrants. Turning the focus on migrant women, who, according to Lara Parizotto, Co-Director of Migrant Democracy Project, suffer a double impact in this scenario, she stated:
“The gender structure that society is built on is simply reinforced by the immigration system.”
Created in 2020, the Migrant Democracy Project aims to empower migrants in the UK with information and enthusiasm for getting involved in politics and building representation for the community in decisions and policies made by elected politicians.
Lara explained: “Too often, migrants are at best ignored in the political system if not actively demonised and victimised by policy-making and in narratives.
Migrants are not considered a voting block, so many of them don’t have the right to vote, and those who do are not registering.”
Lara Parizotto
Although migrant communities are allowed to vote in the local elections, as the right is residence-based, this is not the same for the general elections, in which only British, Irish, and qualifying Commonwealth citizens are allowed to vote.
In the UK, immigration is a reserved matter, meaning that the UK Parliament creates and enforces all immigration laws and policies.
For specific countries within the UK, such as Scotland, where there is a more progressist approach to immigration, power decisions over immigration matters are reserved to the UK Parliament.
This means that Scotland has limited power over immigration, leaving migrant communities vulnerable, as not even the majority can choose the policymakers who will make decisions that will affect their future in the country.
This concern is raised when considering migrant women, who suffer more barriers within the country, mostly because women and men have different patterns of migration.
Migration Democracy Project
The study “Migrant Women and the Economy”, ran by the Women’s Budget Group in May 2020, concluded that women are more likely than men to be dependent on other migrants and, consequently, their visas to remain in the UK.
This dependency can cause many problems for these women, leaving them unprotected from any abuse they might suffer, especially since they are most likely financially and economically dependent on their partner.
A key discussion around immigrants and their rights in the UK, for example, is the “No Recourse to Public Funds” (NRPF), which “has far-reaching consequences for migrant women”, as pointed out by the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre.
The NRPF means that migrants in the UK who have this condition attached to their immigration status have restricted access to some social security benefits and social housing, which can have a high impact on migrant women who are on family visas and victims of abuse, which, according to the Women’s Budget Group’s study, are 68% of migrant women in the UK.
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere on Unsplash
Migrant women face many barriers that, combined, put them in a fragile situation, both individually and in their nuclear home, as Lara pointed out: “In childcare and medical needs, these demands will fall more greatly on the women.
Women should be able to terminate a relationship without the fear of losing their visa and migrant women not being able to vote allows policies to harm them further.”
However, the struggles of migrant women further extend to other spheres, such as healthcare and employment, complicating their process for independence from their partners.
In healthcare, for example, migrants need to pay twice, through their taxes and the Immigration Health Surcharge. When undocumented, migrant women need to pay for their healthcare treatments, such as any pregnancy-related care, which can build up to many thousand pounds.
In employment, women earn less than men, making it harder for them to bring their families to the UK under a family visa, and many times, they end up in fragile situations, such as zero-hour contracts, or in precarious jobs, such as cleaning and in the care sector.
The interdisciplinary artist and media researcher Malini Chakrabarty came to the UK from India in 2019 on a student visa. When trying to find employment, she was faced with a growing difficulty due to her migration status:
“We have to keep proving ourselves constantly to even get an interview.
When I was job searching, I got so many rejections and as a migrant woman, it was so hard, because I didn’t get any benefits, government support, or anything at all.
While I was studying, I was also doing care work and also doing networking to make sure I could meet the right people.
The entire process seems extremely difficult and it seems that the first step to enter meaningful employment aligned with our qualifications as a migrant woman in this country is so high that so many people are already ahead of us just by being a UK citizen.”
She also described her experiences of coming to the UK: “When I moved to this country, I was on a government scholarship and back then, their policy was to have a ‘global UK’, global talent coming in.
The same government policies have changed now and I don’t think there’s enough support for migrant women who are especially coming to this country for higher education and are transitioning into employment, even if they win awards for the UK.
That’s why a lot of migrant women start their own businesses and I was one of them.
We have to work 10x more and constantly prove our value just be here. It feels very dehumanising.”
The combination of all obstacles in different spheres makes it easier for these women’s partners to use their immigration status as a form of coercion and control, making them susceptible to remaining in abusive relationships without a way out.
The solution for this issue? Lara says residence-based voting rights in the general elections: “That’s something that needs to change and there are countries who have changed their models.
New Zealand, for example, is a country where, if you have lived there for over twelve months and you’re a resident, you have the right to vote.
That’s what we’re suggesting to the UK Government, that every resident, no matter where they’re from, has the right to vote.
They’re taxpayers, working, studying, creating families and relationships in the UK. Why shouldn’t they shape the decisions that are going to affect them?
Lara also added about the need for migrant women’s involvement in UK politics:
“Women are less likely to vote. Our rights have been neglected by our representatives and government. We need to take up that space.”
Ana Dutra Tagliati is a former lawyer turned journalist with a Master’s Degree from Edinburgh Napier University. She hosts and produces her weekly podcast, ‘The Brazilian Point of View’, and loves reading and writing in her spare time.
