Women Refugees: Empowerment and Vulnerability

Abstract

Much of the literature on women refugees depicts them as victims and as vulnerable because they are women. They are portrayed as being passive and dependent with limited abilities to survive, cope and adapt. This perception in turn hinders chances for resettlement in countries such as Canada because the expectation is that refugees, like immigrants, will become economically independent and adjust in a relatively short period of time. Focusing on vulnerability places the problem on women rather than on the aggression perpetrated against them because they are women. As I listened to and reflected on the life journeys of women refugees, I was deeply moved by their strength and courage, their determination to survive, to maintain their identities and integrity, and to struggle to fulfil life goals. Their concern for the future of their country and peoples also awed me. I came to recognize their actions as forms of resistance. This understanding has made me see them as victimized rather than as victims, and as shapers of their personal and collective lives. These women have, in effect, challenged state power, violence, and persecution, in their decisions to flee their homes and country. Flight purney experiences differed in terms of routes taken and the people with whom they fled. The age range of women at the time of flight was 14-36. All mamed women fled without their spouses. All children fled with their mothers. Most single women travelled alone or with a group of strangers. A few fled with a close relative or friends. Women who travelled overland did so with the assistance of guides (nomads) or The Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) or the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front CI'IWF) militants. Only one woman had ever travelled outside of Ethiopia prior to flight. Whatever the route and whomever they travelled with, women took many risks. To be caught fleeing the country is an act of betrayal under the Ethiopian Criminal Code. The punishment is imprisonment with hard labour from 525 years. Those fleeing overland risked being caught in the war zones. These women usually travelled by night to avoid being bombed by the Ethiopian air force. One of the many hazards of night travel was falling prey to wild animals. Rape wasanother actual and/or potential risk, in flight, as well as upon arrival at borders. In retrospect, however, all the women interviewed felt that even if they had been conscious of these risks before leaving their homes, they would have made the same decision. One woman said: I would not have believed that it was any more dangerous than the violence I experienced daily in my neighbourhood. At the beginning you think you will not make it, but once you accept the hardships you can look forward to your safe arrival at your destination. All women experience fears and risks during flight, but all said that the decision to leave their homes revealed their strength and ability to challenge socially prescribed dependency roles. This was expressed succinctly by one woman who said: I learned that I could make decisions alone and take risks that I would never have realized I was capable of as a woman. Before, all major decisions in my life would be taken by my family. All women, however, felt that the price for this insight was too high to value the experience in and of itself. Enforced separations under state repression, the terror that engulfed their lives prior to flight, and the experience of becoming refugees are experiences with which many still have to come to terms. SEXUAL ABUSE