Empowering women refugees in Australia

 

Introduction

Australia has been hosting migrants from different parts of the world since World War II. While some stay in the country while waiting to go back to their countries of origin, a significant number stay in Australia and greatly contribute to the country's development.  Although the social justice system and the human rights policies that govern the region advocate for fair treatment of all refugees regardless of place of origin, gender, race and other factors that can be used to define people, there is need to empower women refugees in Australia so as to ensure that they get the benefits and opportunities offered to their male counterparts.  Advocating for the rights and freedoms of women refugees also helps to ensure that they have the knowledge and understanding needed to help them overcome issues related to discrimination and also secure a living even after relocating from their home country.  It is therefore important to continue educating women as this is the best way to empower and create structures in society designed to offer equal opportunities without discriminating on the basis of gender.  Empowering women refugees in Australia should therefore focus on educating women as well as members of society so as to help in the development of policies that offer the best opportunities and observes equality in the treatment of refugees.

• Project plan

Background

            Refugees are considered to be among the most vulnerable people in the world and this has warranted special treatment and laws set in place to protect their rights and freedoms. Women and children for example are at a greater risk of being exploited, abused and even subjected to gender based violence (Jeffries, 2018). While women wait for an opportunity to be resettled in more secure and ideal homes, they are forced to wait in refugee camps where the conditions may not be favorable for women. Since as early as 1989, Australia has engaged in various practices aimed at helping women to resettle and also overcome the challenges that they are often forced to overcome (Jeffries, 2018). The Women at Risk initiative for instance was implemented by the Australian government to offer assistance to refugee women who were considered to be living in vulnerable situations. The initi9ative was prioritized by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees with the aim of helping the women not only acquire Visas but also start their new lives in Australia (Jeffries, 2018). Other than advocating for women rights, the initiative also strives to educate the refugee women on practices and ideas that have been implemented by other women who successfully managed to settle in the country, despite any challenges that they were forced to overcome.

Community need and benefit

             Most of the refugees that relocate to Australia seek to start permanent lives in the country and start new lives. As such, refugees greatly contribute to then growth and development of the country especially because 28% of the Australian population is made up of citizens that were originally born overseas but relocated into the country as refugees (DSS, 2013). Since the population comprises of women who are at a greater risk of being discriminated against, discussing ways in which women refugees can be empowered will help them become active members of society and this will give them a better opportunity to make an impact in the places they settle in. When women are forced to flee their homes, the first loss they experience is that of losing their home. Some experience further losses especially is they are unable to flee from their country with their families which makes the transition even more difficult (DSS, 2013). In such scenarios, the women have to fend for themselves, look for shelter and find a way to get help from the government when seeking to become Australian citizens. While such challenges are common for all refugees, women are at a greater disadvantage as they are likely to be taken advantage of if they do not have a male figure to protect them.

            In addition to losing their homes and all sense of security, women refugees further have to learn what rights and freedoms are offered to them as refugees in the countries they choose to settle in. often times, the discrimination against women refugees causes great challenges to the women because they are yet to understand their rights and freedoms and where to seek help if these rights are infringed upon (DSS, 2013). The trauma of leaving their home country to a foreign one brings about confusion that makes women refugees targets to those who may seek to exploit them. The goal of empowering women refugees should therefore focus on educating the refugees on what rights they have and where they can seek help if any of these rights are violated (DSS, 2013). By creating awareness, women refugees will possess the knowledge and means to not only fight for their rights but also benefit from the opportunities made available by the Australian government such as securing jobs, applying for visas and other avenues that can be pursued by the women refugees to help them start their new lives in Australia.

Literature review

            Unlike Canada of the United States of America, Australia has established itself as an immigrant society whose population is as a result of the government policies put in place to advocate for the rights and freedoms for refugees. The policies seek to improve living conditions for refugee while at the camps and also to help them start new lives in the country. When the country adopted the White Australia policy in 1901, it was able to formalize the attitude that others had regarding immigration and created favorable conditions for refugees in the country (Jupp, 2002). The policies placed a lot of emphasis on finding better settlement for the refugees in the camps and this contributed to majority of them applying for visas and becoming Australian citizens.

            The desire for a skilled labor force also advocated for better treatment of refugees especially because of the mining boom that occurred in the region in 1975 (Ahmed et al, 2008). In a bid to improve Australia’s competitiveness in the international market, the government sought to seek out migrants who would make up the skilled labor force. While the goal was to improve the workforce in Australia, it ended up discriminating against women especially because the selection criteria used gave men more opportunities as they were considered to be more efficient in performing duties and creating a better labor force compared to women (Ahmed et al, 2008). Despite having to overcome the same challenges as men, women ended up staying longer at refugee camps because men were considered to make better employees and therefore given more opportunities to be constructive members of the community.

            In 2013, there were over 11 million women refugees, 98,900 more than men in Australia (Ahmed et al, 2008). Out of these women, 55 percent had applied for visas seeking to be Australian citizens so as to benefit from the protections covered by the government (Ahmed et al, 2008). While a lot of measures have been taken up to promote equality and ensure that women’s rights are protected, there is still need for more awareness and empowerment as women are still being subjected to various forms of discrimination solely on the basis of their gender.

            According to Ahmed et al (20008), women refugees who make it in Australia are those that are resilient. Since resilience is defined as one’s ability to recover from traumas, deprivation or any experience that can cause stress, the belief that women refugee should be resilient creates room for oppression and infringement of the women’s rights. Advocating for resilience sends the message that challenges are a part of the refugee transition and that women should be prepared to overcome all sorts of challenges before they get visas. However, the government and other agencies tasked with protection of women’s rights, and human rights in general, should strive to do away with such notions and create better transition from the refugees leaving their countries of origin to the point where they settle in Australia as citizens (Indra, 2012). Instead of preparing women refugees to overcome challenges and be resilient, more emphasis should be placed on the teaching they women refugees about the laws and policies that protect their rights and freedoms.  Since the challenges will come whether the women are resilient or not, a more constructive approach would be to train the refugee women on what options they can utilize to either protect themselves from being exploited and also where to seek assistance when discriminated against.

• Research plan

The research will be based on a case study that will focus on the experience of 10 women who relocated from different parts of the world and settled in Australia as refugees. The qualitative approach of data collection will be used whereby the test subjects will be expected to fill in questionnaires and share information regarding the experience they went through after leaving their countries of origin and immigrated to Australia as refugees. The data collected will then be analyzed and the findings will be used to come up with an ideal approach to help women refugees overcome the challenges they are forced to endure when relocating to a foreign country.

            While conducting the research, some ethical considerations will be factored in to ensure that the rights and privacy of the participants is protected throughout the research. Participants will be selected using the random method and their names will be kept anonymous. The questionnaires will also be kept private and no participant will be required to give their names when handing back their response. The participants will also be informed of the nature of research that the information they give will be used to compile, its purpose and the impact it will have on society. Assistance will be offered to those that have a hard time or do not fully understand how to go about with the study so as to ensure that only factual and relevant information is retrieved for the study.

            Non-leading open ended questions will be used to help researchers get a deeper insight on the experiences that each refugee woman had when immigrating to Australia. The qualitative approach will assist in creating a better understanding and deeper exploration of what needs to be implemented in order to empower women refugees in Australia as it sources information rather than just facts. Once collected the information will be carefully analyzed to get rid or irrelevant or unwanted information so as to help maintain the focus of the research which is to empower refugee women in Australia through education and improved awareness.

Analysis

            Findings from the research reveal that women are forced to endure a lot of challenges because they are not well informed regarding the rights and freedoms offered to them as refugees in a foreign country. While there are various laws and policies passed by the government and relevant authorities to protect the rights and freedoms of refugees, these policies tend to differ in different countries., in the case of refugee women, the rights and freedoms enjoyed in their countries of origin are different from those observed in the country the immigrate to (Ahmed et al, 2008). When women refugees relocate to Australia, they are more vulnerable because they are not only unaware of the rights offered to them, but are also discriminated against on the basis of gender. As such, any attempt to empower women refugees in Australia should first start by educating the refugees on what laws and policies protect their rights. Since the women refugees often have to stay in refugee camps before being relocated elsewhere, an ideal way to educate the women on their rights would be to have mentors present at the refugee camps.

            Mentoring is the process in which an experienced person in a specific field guides a less experienced individual so as to help create a better understanding of how things work for the inexperienced individual. In the case of new women refugees, mentors can guide help educate them on the rights and freedoms offered to them under the human rights act as well as other policies and laws implemented by the government to protect women refugees (Jeffries, 2018). Since the mentors have stayed longer in Australia and get to benefit from the protection the laws provide, they are in a better position to reach the women refugees coming into the country and have a positive impact on their perceptions and expectations (Jeffries, 2018). They approach also helps to create a social network which women refugees can rely on not just for information sharing, but also to assist each other when one of the members is discriminated against.

• Timeline

            Since women refugees keep immigrating to Australia, the empowerment of women refugees shall not have a timeline but rather aim to create a sustainable system that empowers refugee women in future even after the research has been completed. The goal is to create an awareness campaign the constantly seeks to improve the living conditions of women refugees by creating a platform where they can seek information regarding the rights offered to them as refugees as well as what avenues to pursue when these rights are violated against. While the research will be conducted in the duration of one month, the goal is to create awareness and help refugee women become empowered even after the research has concluded.

• Budget

For the purpose of the study, a budget of 5,000 dollars will be ideal to cater for the research needs. The money will cater for expenses such as printing questionnaires, transport and upkeep as well as paying for equipment used. While participants will not be given monetary compensation for their contributions, the budget will also account for refreshments given to those engaged in the research. Reading materials will also be printed and made available to participants as well as those interested in gaining access to the research. Since the goal is to empower women, a website will be set up to ensure that the research and its findings is available online. Other than findings, the website will also host information about refugee rights, authorities tasked with protecting rights and what actions women refugees can take when their rights are infringed upon. 

Conclusion

            There is need to empower women so as to open up opportunities and help them lead good lives in the country they choose to settle in. since women outnumber male refugees in Australia, advocating for women refugee empowerment will ensure that that they get the same opportunities offered to men. Tis can be achieved through education and mentoring which will help the female refugees to adapt to life in Australia as well as identify where to seek help when their rights are violated.

 

 

References

DSS Humanitarian Settlement Services, (2013) “Getting settled: Women refugees in Australia”   Australian Government

Hajdukowski-Ahmed, M.,Khanlou, N., & Moussa, H. (2008). Not born a refugee woman:            Contesting identities, rethinking practices. New York: Berghahn Books.

Indra, D. (2008). Engendering forced migration: Theory and practice. New York: Berghahn.

Jeffries, J. (2018). Who Are Refugees?. Rosen Publishing group