Gender and Asylum-Seeking in a European Borderland: Intersectional Discriminations and “Lessened” Citizenship
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41162Keywords:
lessened citizenship, intersectional discriminations, gender-based violence, asylum-seeking women, Greece, EuropeAbstract
This paper presents a feminist analysis of the manifold and intertwined discriminations faced by asylumseeking women in a European “borderland”—specifically, Greece. It explores how these discriminations operate across law, policy, practice, and discourse, while highlighting the dynamic interplay of intersectional discriminations with citizenship rights and practices. Data were collected through 35 interviews with asylumseeking women. The analysis shows that (a) intersectional discriminations occur at both macro- and microlevels, reproducing and consolidating the women’s “lessened” citizenship, while (b) “lessened” citizenship reinforces their precarious status and leaves them vulnerable to multiform, multi-sited gender-based violence.
Metrics
References
Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer: Sovereign power and bare life (D. Heller-Roazen, Trans.). Stanford University Press. http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=2003
Angulo-Pasel, C. (2019). The categorized and invisible: The effects of the “border” on women migrant transit flows in Mexico. Social Sciences, 8(5), Article 144. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8050144
Arat-Koc, S. (1992). Immigration policies, migrant domestic workers, and the definition of citizenship in Canada. In V. Satzewich (Ed.), Deconstructing a nation: Immigration, multiculturalism and racism in ’90s Canada (pp. 229–242). Fernwood Pubishing.
Asylum Service. (2016, November 23). Establishment of an autonomous asylum unit for the accelerated examination of applications for international protection (Common Ministerial Decision No. 18739, Greek Government Gazette B 3786/23.11.2016). Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
Asylum Service. (2017, October 12). Opening of regional asylum offices in Peraus and Alimos (Common Ministerial Decision No. 16654, Greek Government Gazette B 3614/12/10/2017). Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
Athanasiou, A. (2007). Ζωή στο όριο: Δοίιμια για το σώμα, το φύλο και τη βιοπολιτική [Life at the limit: Essays on the body, gender, and biopolitics]. Ekkremes.
Balibar, E. (2009). Europe as borderland. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 27(2), 190–215. https://doi.org/10.1068/d13008
Bhabha, H. (1994). The location of culture (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203820551
Bosniak, L. (2006). Borders, domestic work, and the ambiguities of citizenship. In L. Bosniak, The citizen and the alien: Dilemmas of contemporary membership (pp. 102–121). Princeton University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7s254
Bosniak, L. (2017). Status non-citizens. In A. Shachar, R. Baubock, I. Bloemraad, & M. Vink (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of citizenship studies (pp. 314–336). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198805854.013.14
Cabot, H. (2019). The European refugee crisis and humanitarian citizenship in Greece. Ethnos, 84(5), 747–771. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2018.1529693
Carastathis, A. (2014). The concept of intersectionality in feminist theory. Philosophy Compass, 9(5), 304–314. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12129
Chetail, V. (2014). Are refugee rights human rights? An unorthodox questioning of the relations between refugee law and human rights law. In R. Rubio-Marín (Ed.), Human rights and immigration (pp.19–72). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198701170.003.0002
Cohen, E. F. (2009). Semi-citizenship in democratic politics. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511642333
Council of the European Union. (2016, March 18). EU–Turkey statement, 18 March 2016 [Press release 144/16]. General Secretariat of the Council. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18/eu-turkey-statement/
Crépeau, F., & Nakache, D. (2006). Controlling irregular migration in Canada—Reconciling security concerns with human rights protection. IRPP Choices, 12(1). https://ssrn.com/abstract=1516626
Dimitriadi, A. (2022). Governing migrant (im)mobility in Greece after the EU–Turkey statement. In M. Kousis, A. Chatzidaki, & K. Kafetsios (Eds.), Challenging mobilities in and to the EU during times of crises: The case of Greece (pp. 221–240). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11574-5_11
Dittmer, C., & Lorenz, D. F. (2021). Frictions of implementing EU humanitarian aid in Greece (2016–2019)—The Emergency Support Instrument and its practical ramifications. Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 6(1), Article 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-021-00095-7
Dobrowolsky, A., & Tastsoglou, E. (2006). Crossing boundaries and making connections. In E. Tastsoglou & A. Dobrowolsky (Eds.), Women, migration and citizenship: Making local, national and transnational connections (pp. 1–35). Ashgate Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315546575
Driver, J. (2005). Consequentialism and feminist ethics. Hypatia, 20(4), 183–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2005.tb00543.x
Enloe, C. (1989). Bananas, beaches, and bases: Making feminist sense of international politics. University of California Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt6wqbn6
Enloe, C. (2004). The curious feminist. University of California Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnb63
European Asylum Support Office. (2020). Border procedures for asylum applications in EU+ countries 2020. https://euaa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/Border-procedures-asylum-applications-2020.pdf
European Commission. (2015, September 14). Council decision (EU) 2015/1523. EUR-Lex. http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2015/1523/oj
European Union. (2005, December 1). Council directive 2005/85/EC. EUR-Lex. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32005L0085
European Union. (2013, June 26). European Parliament and Council directive 2013/32/EU. EUR-Lex. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32013L0032
Faist, T. (2000). Transnationalization in international migration: Ιmplications for the study of citizenship and culture. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 23(2), 189–222. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198700329024
Franzway, S. (2016). The sexual politics of citizenship and violence. Women’s Studies International Forum, 58, 18–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2016.04.006
Friedman, M. (1991). The practice of partiality. Ethics, 101(4), 818–835. https://doi.org/10.1086/293345
Gerth, H. H., & Mills, C. W. (Eds.). (1946). From Max Weber: Essays in sociology. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203759240
Grabham, E., Cooper, D., Krishnadas, J., & Herman, D. (Eds.). (2008). Intersectionality and beyond: Law, power and the politics of location. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203890882
Hellenic Ministry of Migration and Asylum. (n.d.). Statistics. Retrieved June 18, 2024, from https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/
Hildebrandt, P., & Peters, S. (2019). Introduction. In P. Hildebrandt, K. Evert, K. Peters, S. Schaub, & G. Ziemer (Eds.), Performing citizenship: Bodies, agencies, limitations (pp.1–14). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97502-3_1
Howden, D., & Fotiadis, A. (2017, March 6). The refugee archipelago: The inside story of what went wrong in Greece. The New Humanitarian. https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/refugees/articles/2017/03/06/the-refugee-archipelago-the-inside-story-of-what-went-wrong-in-greece
Hyndman, J. (2007). Conflict, citizenship, and human security: Geographies of protection. In D. Cower, & E. Gilbert (Eds.), War, citizenship, territory (pp. 241–257). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203938126
Hyndman, J. (2019). Unsettling feminist geopolitics: Forging feminist political geographies of violence and displacement. Gender, Place & Culture, 26(1), 3–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369x.2018.1561427
International Organization for Migration. (2016). Europe—Mixed migration flows to Europe, yearly overview (2015). https://migration.iom.int/reports/europe-%E2%80%94-mixed-migration-flows-europe-yearly-overview-2015?close=true
Kiwan, D. (2021). Inclusion and citizenship: Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 25(2), 283–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2019.1707308
Lister, R. (1997). Citizenship: Towards a feminist synthesis. Feminist Review, 57, 28–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/014177897339641
Lister, R. (2003). Citizenship: Feminist perspectives (2nd ed.). New York University Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26209-0
Maher, K. H. (2004). Globalized social reproduction immigrant service workers and the citizenship gap. In A. Brysk & G. Shafir (Eds.), People out of place: Globalization, human rights and citizenship gap (pp. 131–151). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203643983
Marsh, D., & Stoker, G. (2010). Theory and methods in political science. Palgrave Macmillan.
Marshall, T. H. (1950). Citizenship and social class and other essays. Cambridge University Press.
Marshall, T. H. (1964). Class, citizenship, and social development. Doubleday.
Miller, S. D. (2017). UNHCR as a surrogate state: Protracted refugee situations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315456812
Moschopoulos, M. (2023). A “surrogate state” for refugees in Greece. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 42(2), 123–157. https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdad002
Nah, A. M. (2019). The ambiguous authority of a “surrogate state”: UNHCR’s negotiation of asylum in the complexities of migration in Southeast Asia. Revue Europeenne des Migrations Internationales, 1(2), 63–86. https://doi.org/10.4000/remi.12582
Nayak, M., & Suchland, J. (2006). Gender violence and hegemonic projects. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 8(4), 467–485. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616740600945024
Onuf, N. (1989). World of our making: Rules and rule in social theory and international relations. Routledge.
Parreñas, R. S. (2001). Transgressing the nation-state: The partial citizenship and “imagined (global) community” of migrant Filipina domestic workers. Signs, 26(4), 1129–1154. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101821_6
Pateman, C. (1988). The sexual contract. Stanford University Press.
Reilly, N., Bjørnholt, M., & Tastsoglou, E. (2022). Vulnerability, precarity and intersectionality: A critical review of three key concepts for understanding gender-based violence in migration contexts. In J. Freedman, N. Sahraoui, & E. Tastsoglou (Eds.), Gender-based violence in migration: Interdisciplinary, feminist and intersectional approaches (pp. 29–56). Palgrave Macmillan. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07929-0
Romero, M. (2017). Introducing intersectionality: An introduction. Polity.
Scott, K., Shinde, A., Ummer, O., Yadav, S., Sharma, M., Purty, N., Jairath, A., Chamberlain, S., & LeFevre, A. E. (2021). Freedom within a cage: How patriarchal gender norms limit women’s use of mobile phones in rural central India. BMJ Global Health, 6, Article e005596. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005596
Shachar, A. (2020). Beyond open and closed borders: The grand transformation of citizenship. Jurisprudence, 11(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/20403313.2020.1788283
Sinha, S., & Uppal, S. (2009). Lesser youth? Particular universalisms and young separated migrants in East London. Journal of Youth Studies, 12(3), 257–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676260802687364
Slaughter, A., & Crisp, J. (2009, January). A surrogate state? The role of UNHCR in protracted refugee situations [Research paper no. 168]. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/media/surrogate-state-role-unhcr-protracted-refugee-situations-amy-slaughter-and-jeff-crisp
Soysal, Y. N. (1994). The limits of citizenship: Migrants and postnational membership in Europe. University of Chicago Press.
Stasiulis, D., & Bakan, A. (1997). Negotiating citizenship: The case of foreign domestic workers in Canada. Feminist Review, 57, 112–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141778973396
Strid, S., & Verloo, M. (2019). Intersectional complexities in gender-based violence politics. In E. Evans & É. Lépinard (Eds.), Intersectionality in feminist and queer movements: Confronting privileges (pp. 83–100). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429289859
Tastsoglou, E. (2010). Less-preferred workers and citizens in the making: The case of Greek domestic women in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s. Ιn M. Abraham, E. Chow, L. Maratou-Alipranti, & E. Tastsoglou (Εds.), The contours of citizenship: Women, diversity and practices of citizenship (pp. 23–40). Ashgate. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315574066
Tastsoglou, E., & Dobrowolsky, A. (Eds.). (2006). Women, migration and citizenship: Making local, national and transnational connections. Ashgate. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315546575
Tastsoglou, E., Petrinioti, X., & Karagiannopoulou, C. (2021). The gender-based violence and precarity nexus: Asylum-seeking women in the Eastern Mediterranean. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 3, Article 660682. https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2021.660682
Tastsoglou, E., & Wilkinson, L. (2023). Gender-based violence and citizenship in a migration context. Ιn M. Romero (Εd.), Research handbook on intersectionality (pp. 292–312). Edward Elgar Books. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800378056
Tschalaer, M. (2022). Increasing isolation of LGBTQI+ asylum claimants during COVID-19 in the UK. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 18(1), 116–132. https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v18i1.1262
Turner, B. (1993). Contemporary problems in the theory of citizenship. In B. S. Turner (Ed.), Citizenship and social theory (pp.1–19). Sage Publications.
United Nations Development Programme. (1994, January 1). Human development report 1994. https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-1994
UNHCR. (n.d). Gender-based violence. https://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do/protect-human-rights/protection/gender-based-violence
UNHCR. (2003, May). Sexual and gender-based violence against refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons: Guidelines for prevention and response. https://www.unhcr.org/media/sexual-and-gender-based-violence-against-refugees-returnees-and-internally-displaced-persons
UNHCR. (2024, January 30). Humanitarian principles. In Emergency handbook. https://emergency.unhcr.org/protection/protection-principles/humanitarian-principles
United Nations. (1948, December 10). Universal declaration of human rights. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
UN Women. (n.d.) Gender-based violence. https://www.unwomen.org/en/hq-complex-page/covid-19-rebuilding-for-resilience/gender-basedviolence?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIop6GjpK1-QIVRbTVCh2k1ACMEAAYASAAEgIRA_D_BwE
Vlieger, A. (2014). Diminished civil citizenship of female migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In T. D. Truong, D. Gasper, J. Handmaker, & S. I. Bergh (Eds.), Migration, gender and social justice: Perspectives on human insecurity (pp. 291–306). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28012-2_16
Walby, S. (2009). Globalization and inequalities: Complexity and contested modernities. Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446269145
Wendt, A., & Duvall, R. (1989). Institutions and international order. In E. Czempiel & J. N. Rosenau (Eds.), Global changes and theoretical challenges: Approaches to the world politics for the 1990s (pp. 51–73). Lexington Books.
Wrigley-Asante, C. (2011). Out of the dark but not out of the cage: Women’s empowerment and gender relations in the Dangme West District of Ghana. Gender, Place & Culture, 19(3), 344–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2011.572435
Yacob-Haliso, O. (2016). Intersectionality and durable solutions for refugee women in Africa. Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, 11(3), 53–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15423166.2016.1236698
Yeboah, I. A. (2020). Double pandemic: Racial discrimination amid coronavirus disease 2019. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 2(1), Article 100074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100074
Yuval-Davis, N. (1993). Gender and nation. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 16(4), 621–632. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.1993.9993800
Yuval-Davis, N. (1997). Gender and nation. Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446222201
Yuval-Davis, N. (2015). Situated intersectionality and social inequality. Raisons Politiques, 2(58), 91–100. https://doi.org/10.3917/rai.058.0091
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Chara Karagiannopoulou, Evangelia Tastsoglou, Sandy Petrinioti
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Refuge authors retain the copyright over their work, and license it to the general public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows for non-commercial use, reproduction and adaption of the material in any medium or format, with proper attribution. For general information on Creative Commons licences, visit the Creative Commons site. For the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, review the human readable summary.