Women Within The Refugee Construct: "Exclusionary Inclusion" in Policy and Practice - The Australian Experience

Abstract

Whilst women arc a significant proportion of the world's refugee population, they are less likely than men to make a claim for refugee status in a Western state. But if they do, they are most likely to succeed upon the basis of a claim as a victim of violence in a patriarchal society. This paper demonstrates how this paradigm constructs women 'culturally' or socially as objects of a power relationship, and how this diminishes their experiences as women refugees. In the case of Refugee Woman, this exacerbates the trend to 'exclusionary inclusion' of asylum seekers in our political and legal systems. Recent developments in Australian law and policy illustrate this argument.