Sexual and Gender-Based Violence on Refugee Women’s Journeys

Abstract

In the wake of the refugee ‘crisis’, an abundance of anti-refugee sentiments can be found in the mass media. Curiously, the focus is centred on men, and refugee women are largely ignored in the media, yet this is not the case in the academic literature. Through a literature review, I uncover that the agency of these women is often forgotten by scholars. Focusing on the refugee ‘crisis’, I explore the obstacles that refugee women face on their journeys regarding sexual and gender-based violence. I pose the question: How does sexual and gender-based violence affect refugee women’s journeys? To avoid representing refugee women as passive victims, I employ a gendered lens on the autonomy of migration approach. Overall, I argue that refugee women should be decoupled with notions of vulnerability and should instead be reframed as resilient women who constantly navigate difficult and dangerous pathways to fight for a better future.