This year, immigration has been at the forefront of policy and news all over the globe. Although these decisions have life-altering impacts on millions of people, women bear disproportionate risks as refugees, immigrants, or displaced people. While traveling for safety or to access limited resources, women are at greater risk for sexual and gendered violence; victims of human trafficking in the United States are mostly immigrant women, and oftentimes, during family separations, the familial burden falls on women.
However, regardless of whether they are leaving their home country out of choice or necessity, women are not a burden. Immigrant women are more likely to own their own business than American-born women, are more likely to become naturalized citizens than immigrant men (and often drive the naturalization process), and have shown significant resilience to overcome adversity and create new lives for themselves and their families.
What can we learn from the stories of immigrant, refugee, and displaced women? What burdens do they share? And what are their successes?
Lisa Splawinski
Staff Attorney, The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland
Chrissy Stonebreaker-Martinez
Co-Coordinator, The InterReligious Task Force on Central America
Sister Anne Victory, HM, MSN
Steering Committee Member, Collaborative to End Human Trafficking
Sam Lehman
Member, City Club Youth Forum Council
Nick Carabello
Member, City Club Youth Forum Council
Nigel Gore
Member, City Club Youth Forum Council
Natalie Sipula
Member, City Club Youth Forum Council
O'rimilo Oresanya
Member, City Club Youth Forum Council