EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN Journeys out of the Ordinary
Date:
With the exhibition “Extraordinary Women, Journeys out of the Ordinary”, the Spotlight Initiative, through the Safe and Fair Programme, would like to celebrate the strength of women migrant workers in ASEAN. Migration benefits individuals, families, communities and countries. Migration enables many women to escape poverty, violence households and experience empowerment as they live, and work in another country. Along with the many positive stories of migration, there are also many women still experiencing violence during the migration route. This exhibition is shining a spotlight on women who, despite experiencing violence, decided to become activists in their own communities and are now collaborating with grassroots organizations to support the new generation of women migrant workers so that their experience of migration can be SAFE and FAIR.
In the exhibition, women migrant workers from Indonesia, Myanmar and Philippines share the coping mechanisms they developed to adapt to their new cultural environments and how they overcome the barriers and challenges they encountered during the migration experience. They also send clear and powerful messages addressed to the future generation of women, to their employers or to duty bearers to ensure that violence against women migrant workers is addressed and this shows the need to strengthen labour migration governance and changing social norms perpetuating violence against women migrant workers.
“My new job reflects my life. I help people who are going through the same hardships we had.”
—Sabare, Myanmar
“I’m proud to help other migrants claim their rights.”
—Than Dar Thun, Myanmar
“Help is available - speak up to end violence.”
—Thida Thein, Myanmar
“Know who you will be working for and have a plan.”
—Aye Than Dar, Myanmar
“Knowing our rights and where to get help make migration safer.”
—Novelita Palisoc, Philippines
“My children tell me they are proud of me.”
—Elena Felix, Philippines
“I got help and now I help others.”
—Abegail Compuesto, Philippines
“Don’t underestimate the importance of contact numbers.”
—Carina Cordero, Philippines
“I want others to learn from my experience.”
—Tasini, Indonesia
“Be careful who you trust, especially on social media.”
—Bunga, Indonesia
“Since I joined the migrant workers’ association, I feel more hopeful.”
—Nurhayati, Indonesia
“Through migration we can earn our own money and not be dependent.”
—Yati Susilawati, Indonesia
“I think of this organization like family. We support each other.”
—Ida Neni Wahyuni, Indonesia
“I want to be the light that other women migrants can follow when they migrate for better opportunities.”
—Jejen Nurjanah, Indonesia
“There are some people who are working to protect our rights”
—Namwaan, Myanmar
“I’m teaching my sons about respecting women.”
—Manee, Thailand
Safe and Fair: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region is part of the Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls, a global, multi-year initiative between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN). Safe and Fair is implemented through a partnership between the ILO and UN Women, in collaboration with UNODC, with the overriding objective of ensuring that labour migration is safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region.
Women migrant workers make vital social and economic contributions to their communities and countries of origin and destination, however, through the migration cycle, women migrant workers face a risk of violence, trafficking and discrimination that limits their access to fair recruitment and decent work. They also have scarce access to protection and support services.
The programme aims to strengthen labour migration governance and addresses risks inherent in migration systems that can results in violence and trafficking, strengthen rights-based and gender-responsive approaches to violence against women and labour migration governance and support access to essential services.
This will be done by:
- Improving the frameworks that govern labour migration and ending violence against women
- Improving access to information and services for women migrant workers and opportunities for them to network and organize;
- Producing data and evidence on the experience of women migrant workers; and
- Campaigning to generate a better understanding of the contribution of women migrants.
