Migration by African women within their countries of origin is an ancient practice, particularly among rural women who depend on agriculture and/or animal husbandry to survive. Across the continent, these women often migrate seasonally, in search of livelihood opportunities on farms, in industrial sectors, or as domestic servants in nearby towns or larger urban centers. They usually return to their villages to continue cultivating their lands. However, with increasing drought and climate change, as well as poverty, armed conflict, and violence, thousands of women have moved with their families to urban centers where they live in slums and on the outskirts of major cities and towns, effectively as internally displaced people (IDPs).

The migration of African women beyond the borders of their countries has become a particular phenomenon in recent decades. Apart from taking refuge in neighboring and other African countries, large numbers of African women have emigrated abroad  to Gulf countries, Europe, US, UK, and Canada, for example. They either accompany their husbands, who have obtained work or refugee status, or migrate through family reunification procedures facilitated by UNHCR offices in some countries such as Egypt and Ethiopia. But there are also women who have moved independently, following the same patterns as their male counterparts. Often, the safest means to do so is through institutional opportunities, such as employment, training, or educational grants. When they arrive, they often seek asylum and never return.

However, most migration by women (authorized and unauthorized) is driven by gender discrimination and gender-based violence, political crises, and wars. Personal status laws, which generally emphasize women’s subordination to men, lack of protection, lack of freedom of expression, censorship by guardians, and legislation and internal laws have reinforced stereotypes and negative attitudes towards women, facilitating the violation of their rights, and subjecting them to sexual violence and humiliation.

For example, in Sudan, the violation of women’s rights during the Inghaz regime (1989-2019) was institutionalized by the Public Order Law, which limited women’s freedom of expression and employment opportunities and travel unless authorized or accompanied by guardians. They were placed under surveillance for their behaviors and clothing and subjected to imprisonment and arbitrary lashes for wearing trousers. Women in war zones were subjected to rape and sexual violence. Similar instances of gender-based violence also existed in other countries, such as Somalia, where the armed conflict that began in 1991 was associated with flagrant violations of women’s rights including gender-based violence, kidnapping, forced marriage, and rape of girls and women in camps, and while collecting firewood or working. Women were vulnerable to attacks from within their own clans as well as other clans. These conditions were exacerbated by economic collapse, corrupt leaders, poverty, and food insecurity.