This International Women’s Day, we sat down with one of our Casework Coordinators Lisa, who runs our women’s support group. She shared her background, how the asylum system needs to change to meet the needs of LGBTQI+ women seeking safety in the UK, and what this day means for her.
What is your background and what made you interested in this job?
“Casework gives you the power to move someone through a harsh unforgiving system to a better position.”
I recently got my refugee status after coming to the UK about 10 years ago from East Africa because I wasn’t safe in my country. I’m deeply embedded in the community; for many years, I volunteered with various migrant groups, for example as a creative writing facilitator, and in several COVID projects to help migrants who were locked out of support.
At that moment, it struck me how tenuous our position is in this country. I saw the impact of casework and advocacy, speaking up for groups that are marginalised, misunderstood, overlooked or discriminated against, and articulating their position or needs. Casework gives you the power to move someone through a harsh unforgiving system to a better position.
Most people I am close to and have worked with are disadvantaged by a very complex system and have found it very hard to navigate the system themselves, to get a better immigration status or find housing, healthcare or work. Among migrants there are other lines and intersections of marginalisation; they are often unseen, particularly LGBTQI+ migrants.
This job felt like a personal calling. I really enjoyed previous casework with marginalised groups and seeing the impact in individual lives. I felt that I could understand people’s position and empathise with the situation they are in, and moved to improve it. Many people feel like giving up when they meet complex situations, but I feel challenged to do what I can to correct injustices affecting the most marginalised.
You restarted the women’s support group recently. How have you found that so far?
It’s amazing. When the doors open and all the women come together, they see each other and they’re very supportive, open and welcoming towards each other. In the first meeting, there were a couple of tears shed because everyone felt so safe and so welcome, and were happy to be in a space where they could just speak and be free. There is a feeling of sisterhood and community.
What are the specific challenges that queer women seeking asylum in the UK face?
We are often unseen and our needs are low priority – there are a few support groups for women and for queer people, but queer women are not very visible in either, and can feel like an afterthought. Queer women often belong to very patriarchal migrant communities, where women’s status comes from being heterosexual or meeting social norms. They tend to be pushed outside of their own community group. There’s a triple sense of exclusion; we’re excluded from our home countries, excluded from migrant communities in our new country, and are also very hidden in queer spaces. Very few services understand the unique needs of queer women, single or with children, compared to straight women.
A lot of women come from societies where children are very highly valued, putting them in a complex position. Those with children can’t access the support systems of their communities and there are few services which can support them.
Queer women also face very high rates of violence and abuse even here in the UK and very long waiting lines to receive the specialised treatment and support they need. For instance, in London, the average waiting time for referral to receive specialised support for rape and sexual assault is 12- 18 months and for queer asylum seekers it may take them years to navigate this. Many report discrimination and barriers when accessing services like healthcare, housing or education.
“These women are walking wounded… When they come here, sometimes we offer them protection, but we don’t offer them healing.”
What should be done to improve this and is there anything you would encourage our readers to do?
The asylum system has recently become more difficult in the requirements to prove sexuality. Women’s sexuality is often seen as secondary, and outside the UK, women’s sexuality is addressed differently to what the UK immigration system expects. For instance, many countries do not explicitly ban same-sex relationships in women but criminalise “non-normative” behaviour. Therefore, many women experience a lot of contact with the criminal justice system and in addition are punished or marginalised by the community and society as a whole. These experiences cannot be seen or measured by the current asylum system. The system must consider the violence and gender-based differences from different communities.
Queer women suffer from a very specific kind of gender-based violence or discrimination that the UK asylum system cannot measure. For example, the system focuses on state protection, but in many societies, protection of women is seen as something domestic that the state does not come into, leading to atrocious acts of violence like corrective rape and/or marriages.
Many women also report that very few people in the system are trained or trauma-informed. They come to interviews with horrific experiences, but the staff don’t have the expertise to examine them or even the knowledge these things are happening. I would introduce a lot of training.
These women are walking wounded, carrying all these traumas. When they come here, sometimes we offer them protection, but we don’t offer them healing and there is no justice in that. I would like to see more queer-based support services and treatment. For instance, I don’t know of any system in the UK providing therapeutic services to queer women who have suffered rape or sexual assault, meaning they’re going to spaces which cannot address certain aspects.
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
“We, as women, inspire and give each other strength.”
It’s so important to have a space to celebrate being women, especially as someone coming from a marginalised region.
In previous years, I’ve had a day out or picnic with women like me, where we just sit and pass the day with no responsibility or weight, having a moment of lightness and celebration.
Other days, I organised a workshop where women brought pictures of other women who they wanted to celebrate or recognise. It was very interesting to see how we, as women, inspire and give each other strength.
It’s also a time to recognise all the work women have done politically and domestically, and to recognise the women in my own life.