Gender equality update 27 | The Future of Women migrant Workers

While different social forces drive women to migrate abroad for work, the most common reason they do is economic. Having few livelihood options, women often seek work opportunities elsewhere to improve their family’s economic conditions. Beyond fulfilling women’s economic needs, migration can also provide them with opportunities to escape deeply entrenched discrimination and gender inequalities, such as sexual and gender-based violence, non-recognition of women’s work, and inequality in wages and decent working opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions on movement have severely impacted the situation of migrant workers, exposing and compounding the economic, social, and structural inequalities they face. Women migrants also work primarily in less regulated or informal sectors, which means they have less access to social protection.