Women Within the Refugee Construct: 'Exclusionary Inclusion' in Policy and Practice -- the Australian Experience

Abstract

Whilst women are a significant proportion of the world`s refugee population, they are less likely than men to make a claim for refugee status in a Western state. But if they do, they are most likely to succeed upon the basis of a claim as a victim of violence in a patriarchal society. This paper demonstrates how this paradigm constructs women `culturally` or socially as objects of a power relationship, and how this diminishes their experiences as women refugees. In the case of Refugee Woman, this exacerbates the trend to `exclusionary inclusion` of asylum seekers in our political and legal systems. Recent developments in Australian law and policy illustrate this argument.