Governing Migration through a Gender Perspective: Rights, Risks, Responsibilities

Panel Abstract
Gender-related impacts of migration have become increasingly relevant, most especially as they relate to labour migration pathways and long-term corridors, including the impacts on families in origin communities (Lam & Yeoh, 2018; Shivakoti et al, 2021). In recent years, bilateral labour agreements have become increasingly popular migration governance instruments as states look to expand “orderly and regular pathways” for migration, as evidenced in the Global Compact for Migration (UN, 2018). Regularization programmes have also offered means for states to enable undocumented migrant workers to be brought into more formal labour settings. For states, such schemes can serve a dual purpose of regulating migration and addressing labour market issues. Such instruments are embedded in specific socio-economic contexts and the outcome of political processes, and the implications for gender are often neglected or under-explored. Further, new research is emerging on the impacts of COVID-19 on migrant women abroad and state repatriation efforts to assist migrant workers(Asis, 2020). This hybrid panel brings together researchers working on migration governance through a gender perspective from across the world with discussion on the implications for changing dynamics in safe, orderly and regular migration.