Five Challenges that Refugee Women are Overcoming through Collective Power

1) Eliminating prejudice against women

Olfat tells us that in refugee communities, “many women look at themselves as caregivers, full-stop. They will tell us what their family needs, but they don’t tell us what they themselves need.” K’nyaw Paw identifies similar issues in the camps of the Thai-Myanmar borders, saying: “women are expected to care for the families and they are excluded from decision-making. If they do get jobs, they get the lower-paid caring jobs.”

But by developing their leadership skills, by building their professional capacities, and by working on their education, refugee women are better positioned to stand up against prejudiced attitudes and make their own decisions in their personal, family, and professional life.

2) Helping women become financially independent

The importance of vocational training in refugee communities is essential in securing the financial independence of refugee women, whose education opportunities are often restricted.

But by helping refugee women access training programs, internships, voluntary positions, professional workshops, online learning spaces, and training refreshers, women’s organisations like the PWHO and the KWO are supporting women achieve financial independence.

Olfat tells us the story of one woman in the PWHO, who told her:

“Without my work, I wouldn’t be able to send my daughter to university. I build up my personality. It’s not only financial, but I am another person. Now in my community I can talk about different topics, if I’m not working I would never have heard about these topics”

3) Demanding equality

In communities of internally-displaced people in Myanmar, and in refugee communities along the Thai-Myanmar border, the Karen Women’s Organisation is giving voice to local women by securing them places at the decision-making tables of villages and refugee camps.

This has meant that in the Karen State of Myanmar, major legislative changes have been achieved through the collective campaigning of the Karen Women’s Organisation. Today, Karen women in Myanmar must be eighteen years old before they marry, up from just fifteen years of age only a few years ago. Karen women have also secured more protective legal definitions of rape, and they have successfully improved the terms of punishment and compensation in cases of abuse and rape.

4) Supporting women’s careers

By employing local women in their own communities to work as health workers, administrative officers, trainers, carers, and community workers, grass-roots organisations like the PWHO and the KWO are providing opportunities for refugee women to pursue professional careers.

Over sixty refugee women work for the PWHO, where they find rare opportunities to develop their professional skills. “They become independent”, Olfat tells us, “and they develop their personalities.” One of those PWHO women told Olfat:

“I joined the PWHO as one person, now I am another person. All my skills were developed.”

K’Nyaw Paw tells us of how the women participants in the KWO Leadership School are encouraged to develop long-term plans for their career, and to commit to civic participation. Following their year of training, they are welcomed to to continue campaigning through the KWO “to support their communities, and to stand on your own feet.”

K’Nyaw Paw tells us that she is proud to hear local village members say:

            “If you want strong daughters, send them to the KWO.”

5) Securing justice for women

Through advocacy, education, and through campaigning, refugee women are working to prevent domestic abuse. In Lebanon, though refugee women are not recognised as citizens, they are engaging with international NGOs and raising awareness within their own communities on the risks of early marriage.

In the Karen State of Myanmar, displaced women have had significant success in addressing these issues through regional legislatures, securing a higher age of consent, more protective legal definitions of rape, and more just terms of punishment and compensation in cases of abuse and rape.

At the end of their conversation, Olfat and K’nyaw Paw recognised that although there are great differences between the cultures and histories of their homelands, refugee women share similar challenges and solutions. “We are from different parts of the world, buy we have many similarities,” Olfat reflects.

Union Aid Abroad supports the Capacity Building for Karen Women Project and the Palestinian Women’s Health Organisation in partnership with the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).