14.3 Global gender issues: labor, migration, and human rights

Global migration patterns are changing, with women now making up nearly half of all international migrants. This shift impacts families, communities, and gender roles worldwide. However, female migrants often face exploitation, abuse, and limited access to essential services.

Women and LGBTQ+ individuals continue to face discrimination and human rights violations globally. These include unequal access to education and healthcare, violence, and political underrepresentation. International laws and treaties aim to address these issues, but implementation remains challenging.

Global Migration Patterns and Impacts

Gendered patterns of global migration

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• Feminization of migration involves an increasing proportion of women migrating independently for work, with women now constituting nearly half of all international migrants
• Factors driving female migration include economic opportunities and gender wage gaps, family reunification, and escaping gender-based violence or discrimination (domestic abuse, forced marriage)
• Impact on families and communities leads to changes in gender roles and family dynamics, increased responsibilities for women left behind, economic benefits through remittances, and social costs such as emotional strain and family separation
• Female migrants face vulnerability to exploitation, abuse, and human trafficking, precarious working conditions and limited legal protections, and difficulty accessing healthcare and social services (reproductive healthcare, mental health support)

Gender, Labor, and Human Rights

Human rights for women and LGBTQ+

• Women and LGBTQ+ individuals face discrimination and violence, including unequal access to education, employment, and healthcare, sexual and gender-based violence (rape, domestic abuse), forced marriage, and female genital mutilation
• Criminalization of LGBTQ+ identities leads to imprisonment, torture, and execution, lack of legal recognition and protection, and social stigma and exclusion
• Barriers to political participation include underrepresentation in decision-making positions and suppression of women's and LGBTQ+ rights movements (protests, advocacy organizations)
• Intersectional discrimination results in compounded marginalization based on race, class, and other factors (indigenous women, transgender people of color)

Exploitation of women's labor globally

• Gendered division of labor results in women being overrepresented in low-wage, low-skill jobs with limited access to education and training opportunities (domestic work, garment industry)
• Precarious working conditions involve inadequate health and safety standards, long working hours and low wages, and lack of social protection and benefits (maternity leave, sick pay)
• Women are concentrated in the informal economy, including unregulated sectors such as domestic work and street vending, which lack legal recognition and labor rights and leave them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse
• Women's labor in global supply chains, particularly in export-oriented industries such as garments and electronics, faces pressure to keep labor costs low, leading to poor working conditions and limited bargaining power and union representation

International law for gender equality

• International human rights treaties, such as the ###Convention_on_the_Elimination_of_All_Forms_of_Discrimination_Against_Women_(CEDAW)0###, ###International_Covenant_on_Civil_and_Political_Rights(ICCPR)_0###, and ###International_Covenant_on_Economic,Social_and_Cultural_Rights(ICESCR)_0###, provide a framework for addressing gender-based violence and discrimination
• Regional human rights instruments, including the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Belém do Pará Convention) and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), further reinforce gender equality
• United Nations mechanisms, such as the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Commission on the Status of Women, and UN Women, work to promote gender equality and address gender-based violence
• Challenges in implementation include limited ratification and enforcement of treaties, lack of political will and resources, and cultural and social barriers to gender equality (patriarchal norms, religious traditions)