March 8th - International Women's Day

Refugee women from Sierra Leone and Liberia at Kountaya camp in Guinea. © UNHCR/L.Taylor

In its Resolution 32/142 (1977), the United Nations General Assembly officially called for member countries to designate a day of their choosing to recognize the important role of women in strengthening international peace and security. The UN itself has commemorated International Women's Day on March 8 since 1975. For more information, visit http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd/.

Women play a prominent role in the forced migration context. Not only do they tend to make up a minimum 50% of any refugee population (this percentage rises among IDPs), but studies also show that their numbers increase with the age of the displaced population. Over the years, this reality has brought about more targeted programming in humanitarian assistance. Yet, despite this development, forced migrants who happen to be women continue to be confronted by particular needs and protection challenges, such as gender-based persecution and violence, access to reproductive health services, personal safety and security. At the same time, the role women play in peace building and reconstruction is increasingly recognized and supported by programmes that focus on empowerment, participation and leadership activities.

This resource page guides users to background documents and web resources selected from Forced Migration Online (FMO) that expand further on this important topic, and highlights organizations that focus on gender issues. Other related FMO resource pages include:

• Human Smuggling/Trafficking
• Reproductive Health
• Violence against Women

Introductions/Overviews:

• FMO Research Guide: Gender and Forced Migration (October 2002)
• Issues (Women's Human Rights Net) (also in French, Spanish)
• Special Feature: Gender and Displacement, Forced Migration Review, no. 9 (December 2000)

Documents:

For more, search in the FMO Digital Library.
• El Bushra, Judy. "Gender planning in conflict situations" (1995)
• Elmadmad, Khadija. "Women's rights under Islam: the case of asylum," International Conference on Uprooted Muslim Women, 12-15 November 1994, Sharjah, UAE (1994)
• Ferris, Elizabeth G. "Refugee women and violence" (1990)
• Lim, Lin Lean. "The analysis of factors generating international migration: the processes generating the migration of women" (1998)
• Oloka-Onyango, J. "The plight of the larger half: human rights, gender violence and the legal status of refugee and internally displaced women in Africa," Regional Conference on the Legal Status of Refugee and Internally Displaced Women in Africa, 1-4 August 1995, Addis Ababa (1995)
• Pittaway, Eileen. "Power through participation: a commonsense guide to working with refugee women" (1991)

Web Resources:

For more, search in the FMO Web Catalogue.
• Combating human trafficking in Asia: a resource guide to international and regional legal instruments, political commitments and recommended practices (UNESCAP)
• Gender sensitive programme design and planning in conflict-affected situations (ACORD)
• Refugee women (UNHCR) (also in Czech, Spanish)
• Reports and investigations (Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children)
• Women, war and peace: the independent experts’ assessment on the impact of armed conflict on women and women's role in peace-building (UNIFEM)
• Women, peace and security (UN)
• Women’s rights are human rights (OHCHR)

Organizations:

For more, search in the FMO Organizations Directory.
• African Centre for Gender and Development (ACGD)
• Arab Regional Resource Center on Violence against Women (AMAN)
• Bhutan Women and Children Organisation (BWCO)
• Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices (IAC) Affecting the Health of Women and Children
• Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE)
• Network of East-West Women (NEWW)
• Refugee Women's Association (RWA)
• Refugee Women in Development (RefWID)
• Women in Law & Development in Africa (WILDAF)
• Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC)