Women and Immigration Law

Abstract:     
This paper explores the impact of Australia’s migration laws on women migrants. It begins with some brief comments about record keeping and awareness of gender issues within different political administrations. It attempts a balanced account of the impact of immigration law and policy on women. It recounts positive gains that have been made for women migrants in terms of access to residency; social entitlements and particular measures taken to protect vulnerable populations of women migrants. It considers aspects of law and policy that have had obviously negative impacts – most notably the regime for granting temporary protection to certain asylum seekers; immigration detention; and "offshore" refugee processing. It then examines the gender impacts of law and policy that are less obvious, using skilled migration as a case study. These laws are interrogated for their propensity to impact differentially on women in ways that entrench gender roles.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 19

Keywords: immigration, women, human rights, gender, skilled migration

JEL Classification: K10, K30

Accepted Paper Series