newabout – Migrant Women Press

About Us

Who is migrant women press?

We are a migrant women-led independent media outlet connecting women from diverse backgrounds navigating life in a new place to amplify their voices through journalism.

We publish migrant women’s original reporting and opinions about migration, focusing on their experiences and interests.

By placing the diverse voices of migrant women at the centre of our reporting and opinion pieces, we offer an intersectional perspective on migration discussions, confronting the misrepresentation of migrant communities and the systemic lack of diversity in the media landscape.

Our Principles

Vision

A world where migrant women are at the forefront, building fair and humanised discussions around migration and bringing diversity to the media.

Mission

To provide a sustainable media platform, publish original journalism content produced exclusively by migrant women, offer training and opportunities in the media, and build a community to foster a sense of belonging among them.

Values

Diversity: We value every migrant woman’s story
Diversity is the heartbeat of our collective journey. By embracing the multitude of backgrounds, perspectives, and identities within our communities, we strive to create a more inclusive and equitable world. By amplifying the diverse voices of women in the media, we ensure that every story is valued and heard.

Equity: We respect and recognise individual journeys
We commit to cultivating an inclusive community that respects and recognises every individual’s unique journey and ensures equitable access to rights and opportunities regardless of identity.

Fairness: We foster understanding and empathy in discussions around migration.
We advocate for a fair, balanced, and humanised discussion about migration. We ensure that diverse perspectives are valued and heard without bias or discrimination, fostering understanding and empathy in our conversations.

Collaboration: We build collective efforts to amplify migrant women’s voices
We believe in the power of collaboration to amplify the voices of migrant women. Through partnerships and collective efforts, we strive to shed light on their stories, experiences, and challenges, nurturing empathy, understanding, and positive change in our communities.

Why Migrant Women press matters

Migrant women make up around half of migrants worldwide.

Women make up around half of the migrants worldwide. According to United Nations (UN) estimates, 51.9% of global migrants in 2020 were men and 48.1% were women.

In 2021, people born outside the UK made up an estimated 14.4% of the UK’s population, or 9.5 million people. About 53% of the foreign-born population in the UK were women or girls, according to APS data.

Unfair and biased coverage of immigration dominates the UK and Europe public debate.

According to research by the Oxford Migration Observatory, the most common term used to describe immigrants in newspapers is “illegal”.

This dehumanising term fosters hostility towards migrant communities and wrongly suggests they are undeserving of rights. It also deflects attention from government failures to provide safe migration routes and creayes other challenges for these communities.

Invisibility and exclusion in the media: Diverse voices are invisible in the UK news industry

According to data from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the presence of Black journalists in British newsrooms is strikingly low. Despite constituting 3% of the British population, they represent only 0.2 of the journalistic workforce.

In comparison, Asian Britons make up a higher population, accounting for 2.5% of the journalistic workforce while representing 7% of the population. Conversely, White journalists overwhelmingly dominate, comprising 94% of the entire journalistic workforce.

Research found that women of colour are “almost completely locked out” of the UK news industry, making them “effectively invisible”. In Britain, where 3% of the media organisations surveyed, including the Guardian, had a female editor-in-chief, only 1% had a woman of colour at the helm.

Manifesto

We amplify the voices of migrant women from any migration background.

Our discussions about migration include first–and second-generation migrants– women who are not migrants themselves but whose parents or grandparents are migrants; asylum seekers, refugees, international students, and returnees– migrants who have returned to their countries of origin. Our discussions also include disapora communities.

We use the International Organization for Migration (IOM) definition of a migrant: “any person who is moving or has moved across an international border or within a State away from his/her habitual place of residence, regardless of the person’s legal status, whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary, what the causes of the movement are, what the length of the stay is.”

We are an intersectional feminist publication.

We center migrant women at the heart of our journalistic work and use an intersectional approach to understand how the different aspects of women’s identity, such as nationality, gender, race, class, religion and disability impact their experiences in a new country.

We are an anti-racist publication

We fight against structural racism and systemic discrimination, challenging the unfair treatment that racialised women face in their country of origin and a new country, especially denouncing of racist immigration policies by governments.

We create a space for intercultural dialogue

We foster a space for intercultural dialogue. Recognising the diverse backgrounds and lived experiences of migrant women, we provide a platform where all voices are valued and heard. We celebrate the richness of cultural diversity and aim to amplify the voices of all migrant women.