Abstract
Contrary to popular media tropes of the ‘young, lone, male refugee’ arriving at Europe’s borders, Greece has in fact seen a steady flow of young refugee women arriving since 2015. While many wish to engage in post-compulsory (15+) education, in order to gain valuable skills and enjoy new freedoms, various factors make it difficult to do so. Based on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork – involving semi-structured interviews with refugee youth (aged 15-25) and other stakeholders – this paper details young refugee women’s expressions of collective and relational agency as they navigate educational constraints. These constraints primarily stem from tensions in micro-level relationships with family, peers and teachers which result from, or are exacerbated by, the conditions of ‘unsettlement’. Young refugee women’s navigational tactics involved finding and shaping alternative learning opportunities, educating peers and leveraging collective strength. The paper concludes with implications and recommendations for gender-sensitive educational initiatives.s.
Highlights
More than one million refugees1 have entered Greece since 2015; the majority of whom, in the early days of the ‘crisis’, passed through on their way to Northern and Western Europe (Afouxenidis et al, 2017; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2020a)
On paper, young refugee women have access to various post-compulsory (15+) educational opportunities: they are legally entitled to enrol in senior high school on the same basis as Greek youth; including in evening ‘shifts’ when they are beyond the standard age of 15-18 (AIDA, 2020; UNHCR, 2020b)
Educational constraints for young refugee women There is an agreement in research from around the world that parents – and especially their socioeconomic background, level of support, beliefs about education and priorities – can play a key role in refugee girls’ attendance and learning (e.g. Boit et al, 2020; Ndijuye & Rawat, 2019; Watkins et al, 2012; Sieverding et al, 2018)
Summary
More than one million refugees have entered Greece since 2015; the majority of whom, in the early days of the ‘crisis’, passed through on their way to Northern and Western Europe (Afouxenidis et al, 2017; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2020a). The majority of the literature on their experiences discusses their vulnerabilities during their journeys and in camps after arrival, such as exposure to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and a lack of access to healthcare and psychosocial support (Freedman, 2016; Human Rights Watch, 2019; International Women’s Initiative, 2021; Papadimos et al, 2021) It describes how after being relocated from camps, they may face homelessness, harmful living conditions and discrimination, including in the asylum and family reunification process (Bastaki, 2019; IWI, 2021; Tastsoglou et al, 2021). While some recent research has begun to explore the stories behind these low enrolment and attendance rates (Rezaian et al, 2019), there has been little focused inquiry into gendered barriers among youth
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