Gender and Migration

While Humane Borders reports more recovered remains that are biologically male than biologically female, its is important to understand the diversity that exists in immigrant populations. There are unique challenges and barriers that become apparent when we pay attention to immigrants who are marginalized and underrepresented due to their gender and/or sexuality.

Queer Migrants

Queer immigrants can often face unique barriers and forms of violence. The meaning of safety and vulnerability can become complicated, particularly when it comes to heteronormative structures that can be reinforced in home countries, on the migrant trail, and in the countries that queer migrants are fleeing to.

“The Freedom of Jail”: Women, Detention, and the Expansion of Immigration Governance along the US–Mexico Border, 1903–1917.pdf

Women Migrants

While travelling along migration routes, women may be physically and sexually assaulted by law enforcement, smugglers, and even travelling companions that they meet in migrant shelters. Women are often seen as easier targets for extortion, physical abuse, and sexual abuse.