March 2020

Political Anthropology
Prof. Tanya Elder
March 30th 2020

The exit is not this way

A glimpse into the effects of French politics of immigration on Maghrebi Maghreb

women

Gabriela Motta

Despite being historically known as a Human Rights advocate, tThe

Hexagon has yet to prove its engagement in constructive critiques and reviews of

its immigration policies. The country often took part in several agreements and

conventions, part of what I will call a desire to achieve a “global moral identity”.

An identity of a welcoming and progressive nation. Firstly, the 1784 Declaration

of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Declaration de Droits des Hommes et du

Citoyen) as a first draft of a human rights document. Later in 1948, this 1784 doc-

ument, along with the 1215 Magna Carta and other documents asserting the

rights of peoples inspired the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (That

was signed in Paris). France was also a pioneer in the legalization of both

women’s suffrage and abortion, in 1944 and 1975, consecutively. Such commit-

ment to Civil and Human Rights leads us to believe progressive ideas lead the

country. However, the present political scenario shows us a different picture, in

particular regarding politics of immigration and its effects on women. A study per-

formed by the INED (Institut National d’Études Démographiques) showed that as

of 2008 (and the number sustains), 51% of the people who migrated to France
were women. And, not only, as one might expect, for family reunion, but as work

pioneers and, most importantly for this exercise, battered asylum-seeking

women, that is, women who are seeking refuge from a gendered violence, do-

mestic, state or economic violence. According to a study published by Lori K. Mi -

halich, at least 20% of the calls received by the SOS domestic violence line in

France are from foreign women. Although we know most immigrants are female

and a huge number of them come to France seeking freedom from a violent past,

there is very little data regarding female asylum-seeking women. Pockets of inter-

est in the situation of asylum seeking and refugee women in France emerged in

the early 2000s as already established migrant women’s community associations

began receiving increased demands for practical and moral support from newly

arrived asylum-seeking and refugee women. With the increasing number of inter-

national traumatic events that touch on entire populations’ basic human rights, it

has been brought to the attention of politicians, agencies and activists the need

for improvement in the treatment of immigrants. Gill Allwood and Khursheed Wa-

dia on their 2010 book Refugee woman in Britain and France, analyse documen-

tal materials collected in several conferences and research gatherings since

2000, as well as interviews with asylum seekers and NGO’s and come to a con-

clusion that an exorbitant amount of cases per caseworker (300), a flawed and bi-

ased process that does not consider technical and psychological issues that asy-

lum seekers face in lodging and defending a claim and interviews carried out in

an intimidating and insensitive way negatively shape the experiences of asylum-

seeking women in Britain and France. Miriam Ticktin’s Casualties of care: Immi-

gration and the Politics of Humanitarianism in France, beautifully clovers the con-

sequences of the politics of immigration in France, in the chapter named “Armed

Love: Against Modern Slavery, Against Immigrants” the anthropologist criticizes

the so-called benevolent consideration from the Global North nations who perpet-

uate a power play between what they announce are the “barbaric” and, them, the

saviours. The salvation, however, is based on an ethical and moral standard that

only accepts one single reality. The reality where people coming from underde-

veloped countries are subservient to the French state, for example. This immigra-

tion process ends up being an open door to modern slavery. Women might par-

ticularly suffer from this scenario for example by not being able to escape sexual

violence in a workplace because they are in the workplace “illegally”. A quality of

life that challenges the most basic understanding of what it means to have a de -

cent living. In the next chapter, “In the Name of Violence against Women”, she

extrapolates the immigrant condition and adds a new undertone, the female con-

dition. This chapter examines how a regime of care that supposedly protects

woman from violence comes to play a role in the politics of immigration. This

regime of care is based on a shifty compassion that changes to fit contexts and

histories. What is understood as violence, as worthy of exception varies not ac -

cording to the victims of the experiences but to what the state figures are recog -

nizable violence. This restrictive understanding of violence isolate itself in certain

ethnicized and/or racialized forms and lets other types of violence –state, racist,

economic- unchecked. Certain specific “types of people” are taken as the model

so the other are always in comparison to the ideal legitimate morally suffering

body. Depending if the victim fits one, two or none of the categories that make

the whole ideal, she/he will, or not, be treated a certain way. In this context, ac-

cess to the law is determined by the role of compassion and by the exception,

apolitical, innocent, suffering body. Cultural otherness seems to be a critical part

of standing out in the process of legitimizing one’s moral legitimacy. The subjects

of compassion gradually change to fit new contexts and histories even as they

appear to be outside of time, outside of history – as universally and timelessly

worthy of benevolence. A form of violence that is often overseen is state violence.

Bilateral accords between France and some late North-African colonies make im-

possible for some women to escape this gendered violence. Persons with these

passports are subject to the legal family code of those countries, largely based on

Shari´a law. This accord was made to allow French citizens to continue living in

these countries under French law, but on the other hand, it sustains the issues

woman under Shari´a law face by denying basic human rights in the name of poli-

tics. For example, many women under this law fall into the category of undocu-

mented because personal status law allows women to be repudiated by their hus-

bands (by unilateral divorces with/out the knowledge of the wife). Once the wife is

repudiated, she may lose her status in France if it was dependent on the status of

the husband which is often the case. On top of the difficulties faced in the asy-

lum-seeking process, on an onsite research Jane Freedman carried out (Sexual

and gender-based violence against refugee women: a hidden aspect of the

refugee “crisis”) a problematic reception of refugee woman was unveiled (no pun

intended). There have been several reports of incidents of gendered-based vio -

lence against refugees. Although the Common European Asylum System (CEAS)

has issued directives for protection against gender-based violence and the Euro-

pean border agency, has also recently integrated gender guidelines into its Fun-

damental Rights Training, female refugees face physical assault, exploitation and

sexual harassment on their journey through Europe. This exemplifies how a

structurally patriarchal society –one that disregards women and their suffering-- is
 engrained in all contexts, even those who are supposed to be helping these bat -

tered women.

Despite women taken up more space in the economic and academic sphere

every day, bringing value to the country they are migrating to, in this case, France,

they are still subject of a gendered-based violence; at home, as well as on their way

through Europe. Lastly, the research conducted by Olga Cosa and published at

France Terre D’Asile reiterates Freedman’s findings. It declares reception conditions

are insufficient and precarious which expose asylum seeker and refugee women to a

great number of violent acts. The research continues arguing that obtaining protec-

tion against violent acts generates a feeling of fear of losing their permits, especially

when their international protection is attached to their spouses. This context of immi-

gration brings tension from the colonial era and its care is based on moral values

rather than a political language of equality, justice and anti-imperialism. It also iso-

lates violence in certain ethnicized/exoticized forms. Meanwhile, other forms of vio-

lence –state, racist, economic, psychological, and a lot more- are left unchecked.
 Works Cited

Ticking, Miriam. “In the Name of Violence against Women.” Casualties of Care: Im-
migration and the Politics of Humanitarianism in France. 1st ed., University of
California Press, 2011, pp. 128–158.

Beauchemin, Cris, et al. “Immigrants in France: A Female Majority.” Population and

Societies, no. 502, Aug. 2013,doi:www.ined.fr/en/resources_documentation/
publications/pop_soc/.

Bautista Cosa, Olga. “Violence against Asylum Seeker and Refugee Women in
France.” Les Cahiers Du Social, no. 40, Apr. 2018, https://www.france-terre-
asile.org/toutes-nos-publications/details/1/225-les-violences-à-l-égard-des-
femmes-demandeuses-d-asile-et-réfugiées-en-france.html.

Allwood, Gill and Wadia, Khursheed. “Refugee Women in France.” Refugee Women
in Britain and France. Manchester University Press, 2010, pp. 96–128. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt155jb8c.10.

Jane Freedman. Sexual and gender-based violence against refugee women: a hid-

den aspect of the refugee “crisis”. Reproductive Health Matters, Elsevier, 2016,

24, pp.18 - 26. 10.1016/j.rhm.2016.05.003. halshs-01441147