GRSJ224/The Exclusion of Women and LGBTQIA+2 in Migration Research

Introduction

For decades, conversations about migration were largely surrounding men, leaving women and the LGBTQIA+2 community undiscussed. This page will center around the introduction of cis women into the conversation surrounding migration and how presently and for the future, migration should be studied by incorporating how various intersectional identities affect one's experience with migration.

Also, while the topic of women and LGBTQIA+2 people is important, it is necessary to mention Canada's colonial history and its impacts on migration movements. For example, because of Canada's colonial powers, Indigenous groups were forced to migrate out of their communities and into residential schools and city centers. The horrors that took place in residential schools and the intergenerational drama it has caused greatly resonates today. This destructive colonial history was and continues to be a systemic issue that presently affects the movements of Indigenous peoples in Canada and their well-being. Migration experiences are largely dependent on government policy, therefore, an intersectional analysis is necessary in order to see how certain policy affects people of all identities differently.

What is Migration?

Migration is defined as the movement of people with the intent of settling somewhere else permanently or temporarily. Migration can be both a personal choice or an external force that pushes one out of their country of origin. Pull factors are reasons one chooses to go to another country such as economic opportunities, safety, and stability. Push factors, on the other hand, are described as reasons that make one feel compelled or forced to leave. Examples of push factors include war, political oppression, lack of economic opportunities, among many others. One's choice to migrate does not come down to one singular reason but a multitude and overlapping of various reasons, both push and pull. What is important to note in this is how gender and intersectional identities play a role in migration experiences.

Migration in Canada & the introduction of women in the topic of migration

Historically, men, specifically white men, have been targeted for migration purposes for example economic need. Immigration policy for many years was solely catered to the white Caucasian male and racially discriminatory towards men of colour. For example, the Chinese immigration act restricted Chinese immigrants and Canada also had a policy which did not allow men from war origin areas such as Japan to enter Canada. Importantly to note, women nor the LGBTQIA+2 community were researched or mentioned in the migration conversation up until the 1980s. The 1980s marks the moment when women, mainly cis, began to be researched in terms of migration patterns, and how certain migration policies affected them differently. This was the first step in remedying the exclusion of women in migration research. From the 1980s to the 1990s, the gendering of migration patterns became more widely recognized and helped spark more conversation surrounding various experiences with migration and all it entails. From the 1990s onwards, gender became a key component in how we understand migration patterns, policies and how certain groups integrate. Unlike cis women, research on LGBTQIA+2 and their migration stories is even more sparse. For decades, they too were left out of the conversation, and even today, their migration experiences have far more challenges than the cis woman including more violence, discrimination, and injustice. For example, in the United States, the LGBTQIA+2 community was barred from seeking asylum and it was only in the mid-1990s when that law was repealed and the Board of Immigration Appeals allowed LGBTQIA+2 people to be eligible for asylum as members of a particular social group.

GBA+ (Gender-Based Analysis Plus)

The Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) which was implemented by the Government of Canada in 1995 is committed to advance gender equality in Canada. Gender equality is enshrined in Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the GBA+ is being structurally implemented across all federal departments, immigration being one of those. The GBA+ is an analytical tool used to assess how diverse groups, women, men and non-binary people may experience policies, programs, and initiatives. With a GBA+ being used to examine migration and policies affecting migration patterns, it helps mend the exclusion that women and the LGBTQIA+2 community have suffered. Not only does the GBA+ look at gender as a factor but they also look at how one's race, ethnicity, religion, age, and their mental or physical capacities affect their migration experiences. The multiple identity factors we all carry with us as individuals have everything to do with how we experience migration movements and more specifically job opportunities in host countries. The GBA+ introduced in 1995 continues to mend exclusions of diverse people and is a tool that examines how well policies surrounding migration account for the various intersectional identities of all humans.

Resources

Boyd, Monica, and Michael Vickers. "100 Years of Immigration in Canada." Canadian Social Trends, no. 58, 2000, pp. 2.

Dlamini, Nombuso, Uzo Anucha, and Barat Wolfe. "Negotiated Positions: Immigrant Women’s Views and Experiences of Employment in Canada." Affilia, vol. 27, no. 4, 2012, pp. 420-434.

Donato, Katharine M., Bhumika Piya, and Anna Jacobs. "The Double Disadvantage Reconsidered: Gender, Immigration, Marital Status, and Global Labor Force Participation in the 21st Century." (2014).

"Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) - Status Of Women Canada". Cfc-Swc.Gc.Ca, 2019, https://cfc-swc.gc.ca/gba-acs/index-en.html.

Hochschild, A. R. (2000) 'Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value', in Hutton, W. and Giddens, A. (eds) On The Edge: Living with Global Capitalism. London: Jonathan Cape.

Parreñas, R. (2001) Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration, and Domestic Work. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Ristock, Janice, et al. "Impacts of Colonization on Indigenous Two-Spirit/LGBTQ Canadians’ Experiences of Migration, Mobility and Relationship Violence." Sexualities, 2017, pp. 136346071668147.