Gender Equality and Asylum Law : Feminist Theory and the Refugee Decision-making Process in the Nordics

This book develops creative approaches for the purposes of eliminating subordination, marginalisation, and the exclusion of women, specifically for migrant women seeking asylum.

Even though the Nordic region has come closest to achieving gender equality, it is increasingly clear that there is an uneven approach to women’s rights and a need to promote them both internally and externally. This book develops creative approaches for the purposes of eliminating subordination, marginalisation, and the exclusion of women, specifically for migrant women seeking asylum. Minimal research has been conducted on the possible interplay between gender equality and asylum law in the Nordic countries. Recently there have been several calls for a more gender sensitive approach to ensure the needs and rights of asylum-seeking women and children, for example, by providing protection to those who are at risk of gender-related persecution. There are also calls, and in the case of Iceland, legal obligations, to implement gender mainstreaming into the decision-making process. This work analyses the possibilities that this entails. It presents a study of what happens in the administrative decision-making process and how, or if, women’s gender appears to be considered at all in the proceedings. The book takes a unique approach, focusing on the administrative process as a whole, from the time of application up until a decision is published. It critically analyses the process and the legislative framework it is based on, using the tools provided by gender mainstreaming. With its practical approach, it provides an invaluable model for improving the implementation of gender mainstreaming in broader fields of administrative decision-making so that women’s voices and concerns are heard and understood in as many areas of law as possible. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers and policymakers working in the areas of Public International Law, Administrative Law, Equality Law and Refugee Law. In addition, this book will contribute to various other fields such as Critical Legal scholarship, Legal Theory and Human Rights.