Empowering Women Migrant Workers in Asia: A Briefing Kit

A new feature of international migration for work is the increase in the numbers of overseas women migrant workers, which in countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka exceed the numbers of male migrants. While women overseas migrant workers are recruited into both skilled and unskilled jobs, the majority are concentrated in low status jobs at the lower end of the job hierarchy, where they suffer abuse. Women as human beings have human rights. Gender discrimination against women and girls is a fundamental denial of human rights. Such discrimination is both a cause of migration to meet survival needs and a consequence of rights violations throughout the migration process.