The Feminist Future of Migration

The Feminist Future of Migration

By Shay A. Stewart-Willis on November 29, 2024

Collective liberation demands imagination. Existing economic and political structures have systematically concentrated power in the hands of elite cisgender, heterosexual white men. These familiar ways of functioning rely upon exploitation and conquest. We are all too familiar with the violence inherent within these systems. In a post-Roe era characterized by the villainization of transgender people, the dehumanization of people in migration, and the exploitation of workers, we yearn for a new way of being.

The path forward has been and continues to be paved by feminist activists. Feminism is a political stance and grassroots movement that centers those marginalized by patriarchy, including women, transgender, two-spirit, and gender expansive people. Global feminist models for social functioning reject the extractive systems of patriarchal power in favor of regenerative, collaborative practices. These models view social issues through a lens of gender justice, but feminist work ultimately addresses all colonial systems of dominance. Climate, racial, and migration justice are essential to the feminist movement.

The feminist model for migration, for example, imagines and works to enact a system free of criminalization, rich in social services, and intertwined with climate justice. The Women in Migration Network (WIMN) promotes feminist global migration policies that prioritize human rights and dignity in an otherwise hostile system. They harness narrative power by lifting up the experiences of women in migration as essential changemakers. Where the dominant narratives of migration in patriarchal, racialized capitalism are dehumanizing, WIMN challenges that stigmatization with the stories of women, girls, and gender expansive people.

The intersectional nature of both feminism and migrant justice requires collaborative space and dialogue. The Feminist Forum on Migration and Displacement offers just that-an opportunity to build shared analysis and collaboration with feminists across sectors and regions. Participants will center feminist values and reorient migration policy. As the climate crisis roars on, the forum offers an opportunity to strategize about forced migration and displacement caused by unprecedented natural disasters. A feminist response to climate-forced displacement requires collaborative, communal systems. How can we work together to ideate and enact these networks of care, even when they function outside of existing patriarchal structures?

From November 30 through December 1, I will join feminist leaders in Bangkok in this effort to build cross-sectoral alliances and fortify feminist movements, contributing to a long term strategy for action. One hundred and twenty five participants from various sectors will create a shared analysis about how migration & displacement occur across diverse realities. This will be a co-created, inclusive space for building relationships, co-sponsored by UUSC, WIMN, Four Rivers Analysts, the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women, the International Domestic Worker Federation, Migrant-Rights.org, Solidarity Center, and Wo-Mi Women Migrants.

The programming of this forum articulates our shared feminist values. Challenging colonial power dynamics, we seek to affirm multiple forms of knowledge and activism. Our gathering will feature small-group discussion, popular education, plenary conversation, and art. The event will offer interpretation in six languages.

We know that deciding to migrate from your home is not an easy choice and those taking this journey do so with courage and belief in their own future. We build community through sharing these stories. My grandfather left Southern Indian during the Tamil community migration to Malaysia as an indentured laborer to work in British plantations. I'm grateful he was able to earn his freedom and a future for our family.

In this time of global violence and upheaval, many feel disenfranchised and drained of hope. The longstanding work of feminist activists urges us instead to step into our power and work toward collective liberation. The Feminist Forum on Migration and Displacement is just one example of how feminist leadership organizes to address the impacts of patriarchal, racialized capitalism. This moment requires us to learn, follow, and champion the work of grassroots feminist activism.

The work of funding feminist movements in the face of patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and colonialism is one that UUSC is enthusiastically supporting. Join us in this journey by making a contribution or joining our email list.

Image credit: Shutterstock (SibRapid)

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