Migrant women from outside EU at greater risk of homelessness, discrimination and violence, report finds

Migrant women from outside the EU are more likely to be unemployed, live in overcrowded housing and experience homelessness, than other women or migrants, a study published on Wednesday warns.

The report, “The Integration of Non-EU Migrant Women in Ireland”, states there is a lack of policy aimed at these women who “may face a double disadvantage which relates to being both a woman and a migrant”.

Published by the Economic and Social Research Institute, it states in 2020 there were almost 89,000 non-EU women and girls living in Ireland, representing 3.5 per cent of the resident female population

“Non-EU women are subject to immigration conditions and different employment rules to their EU counterparts, resulting in a more precarious residence status in the State,” it says.

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“Survey data indicate that they are more likely to live in overcrowded conditions than Irish women, while health data shows that certain groups of non-EU migrant women have a higher frequency of perinatal deaths than other groups.”

High joblessness

In addition: “Eurostat data show that non-EU migrant women in Ireland displayed consistently higher unemployment rates when compared to Irish national women.

“Whereas the unemployment rate of Irish women declined between 2016 and 2019 (when it reached 3.4 per cent), the unemployment rate of non-EU migrant women declined from 10.9 per cent in 2016 to 8.4 per cent in 2017, before increasing to 9.2 per cent in 2018.

“In 2019 the unemployment rate was as low as 7.7 per cent, before increasing to 9.2 per cent in 2020 and declined again to 7.4 per cent in 2021.”

A 2018 study found Africans bore even greater unemployment levels with 32.9 per cent of African men and 36.9 per cent of women unemployed.

“A considerably higher share of migrant women indicated overcrowding than Irish women,” states the report. “In 2016, 17.8 per cent of non-EU migrant women indicated overcrowding compared to 2.8 per cent of Irish women the same year.

“Women in the ‘Asian’ or ‘Nigerian, Somali and other African’ nationality groupings are over-represented among homeless people relative to their proportion in the Irish population,” it adds.

Integration challenges

These women face “additional integration challenges… including gender-based and domestic violence; discrimination; homelessness; and the vulnerability of women living within the Direct Provision system of accommodation. Migrant women are also at increased risk of trafficking in human beings than other groups.”

Despite these obstacles to integration… ”there is no specific mention of migrant women in the National Strategy for women and girls or in most sectoral policies reviewed”.

Representatives from the African women’s organisation AkiDwA, the Irish Refugee Council and the migrants’ group Nasc noted “a lack of policies focused specifically on the integration of migrant women”. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability and Integration told researchers “the integration of migrant women is a policy priority in Ireland”.

Noting that the recently published National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (2022-2026) “commits to an intersectional approach… to ensure the inclusion of socially excluded groups” the report says “societal” changes in recent years provided greater awareness of vulnerable women.

“These… contextual changes… create a good opportunity to better address the integration of migrant women as a priority in future policies and measures,” the report concludes.