AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	23. Family Dynamics an Migration: Tensions in Gender and Generation Relations
Paper ID	176
Author(s)	Regt, Marina de
Paper	View paper (PDF)
Abstract	This paper focuses on the multiple tensions faced by Somali refugee women living in Republic of Yemen and the impact on gender relations within the family. Since the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia in 1990 a burgeoning flow of Somali refugees has spread all over the world. As a result of the one-sided debate in the West, in which immigration control is the main topic of discussion, there is very little attention for the fact that the majority of refugees flee to neighbouring countries. In the case of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are important countries of refuge but also Yemen has received hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees. Yemen is the only country on the Arabian Peninsula that has signed the Refugee Convention 1951 and Somali refugees are accepted on a prima facie basis. Most Somali refugees come to Yemen by smugglers’ boats and intend to travel on to the richer countries on the Arabian Peninsula or to Europe, the United States and Canada. Yet, the possibilities to move to other countries are limited and many Somali refugees are forced to stay in Yemen. The living and working conditions of Somali refugees in Yemen are far from ideal. Their social status in Yemeni society is low; they are often discriminated against and are blamed for the increasing unemployment rates, levels of crime, prostitution, presence of AIDS and the loosening of moral values. Whereas Somali men have difficulties finding paid work in Yemen, for Somali women it is much easier. They are almost always employed as domestic workers, cleaning the houses of Yemeni upper and middle class families. Yemeni women are reluctant to do paid domestic work, because of its low status and the possible contacts with non-related men. Somali women also have difficulties accepting their work as domestics but there are very few other possibilities to earn a living. In situations of migration or refuge gender relations often are highly pressurized, and may consequently change. Among Somali refugees in Yemen, the ideology of the male breadwinner is under threat as many Somali women have become the main income earners in their families while their husbands are unemployed. The subsequent tensions in gender relations sometimes result in men leaving their wives and children without any address. In this paper I will describe and analyze the multiple tensions Somali women in Yemen face, as refugees, as women and as domestic workers. The paper is based on extensive anthropological fieldwork in two cities in Yemen between 2003 and 2005 and in particular on life story interviews with Somali domestic workers.

Refugee, Woman and Domestic Worker: The Multiple Tensions Faced by Somali Women in Yemen