As globalization reshapes political and economic boundaries, another trend is quietly changing the world community: the millions of women participating in international immigration. Never before have so many women moved across borders, traversing cultures and time zones to seek new lives and uncertain residence in foreign lands.
Given the disenfranchisement of women in many countries, the magnitude of this movement is not surprising. Millions of women are voting with their feet–and making a powerful statement about gender disparities and their desire for equality on all social fronts.
For those who voluntarily cross borders, the hunger for improved economic and educational opportunities drives their actions. But there’s another, more unsettling category within this vast movement: women who are forced migrants. They are the disproportionate victims of national conflicts, gender violence, persecution, discrimination and natural disasters. They are refugees and many of the world’s displaced persons.
In 2000, 85 million women migrated, a dramatic increase from 1960, when 35 million women crossed a border to work or live in another country. Women now make up 49 percent of migrants, according to the 2004 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development, published by the United Nations.
The numbers tell only part of the story. Indeed, each woman or girl who leaves her homeland for another has her own story. Over the last year, Tribune journalists have chronicled the stories of women from Africa, Central America, Europe and Asia. Although the immigration patterns of women crosshatch the global map, the stories inside this section center on women who set their sights on the United States.
They have shared their tales of sorrow, optimism and triumph, and revealed the hard choices they had to make for themselves, and the cruel choices that were sometimes made for them.
For a lot of the women crossing borders, the decision to relocate may not be voluntary. Countless journeys are fraught with peril, intrigue and no guarantees. Each year an increasing number of women are trafficked for illicit sexual purposes or to become part of cheap labor pools. Not since the days of the American slave trade have so many women been taken across borders against their will.
Millions of women, though, migrate voluntarily, taking a gamble that life somewhere else will be a big improvement over the ones they leave behind.
Here in Chicago, we encounter these women everywhere. She may be the Polish nanny minding the kids of an Evanston couple. The Indian woman working at a Midway Airport ticket counter. The Filipino nurse and mother who never would have been able to attain anything near the middle-class life she has here.
No matter the circumstances that brought them to this country, this much is probably true: They arrive with their bags filled with hope and some measure of faith in the American Dream.
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THE FEMALE MIGRATION PHENOMENON AROUND THE WORLD
FEMALES AS A PERCENT OF ALL MIGRANTS IN 2000
49% In the world
50% North America
50% Latin America
47% Africa
52% Former Soviet Union
52% Europe
44% Southern Asia
50% Eastern and Southeastern Asia
48% Western Asia
The number of female migrants in 2000: 85 million
Sources: UN 2004 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development; International Organization for Migration, 2005 report
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For the multimedia version of today’s section, which includes additional stories, photos, video and audio clips, visit bancodeprofissionais.com/borders.
