Guidance for gender-responsive reintegration services for migrant women returnees

Gender shapes all stages of migration, influencing women’s reasons for migrating and decisions to return. Migrant women may face intersecting forms of discrimination, gender-based violence, exploitation, restrictive gender norms, and barriers to protection and support. These challenges can be compounded upon return, when women may experience stigma, loss of autonomy, discrimination, domestic violence, family and community rejection, and barriers to information, services, and livelihoods. At the same time, migrant women navigate their journeys with agency, develop skills and networks, and contribute to families, communities, and economies across borders.

This guidance document, developed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN Women, is intended for practitioners and service providers supporting women throughout the reintegration assistance processes. It promotes a gender-responsive approach to individual-level reintegration assistance that prioritizes women’s safety, dignity, and individual needs, while recognizing their agency, strategies, and potential. It aligns with IOM’s Reintegration Handbook and complements IOM’s Policy on the Full Spectrum of Return, Readmission and Reintegration and UN Women’s Making Migration Safe for Women programme.

The guide showcases good practices that prioritize the safe, dignified, and sustainable reintegration of migrant women returnees. Its first section presents an overview of women returnees’ experiences, drawing on desk research and secondary data to highlight key concerns and challenges. The second offers practical guidance for practitioners to identify and address barriers and exclusions resulting from gender inequalities, including societal attitudes, stereotypes, and biases against returnee women, and to strengthen access to services, job opportunities, and available support.