From Cape Town to the Mediterranean Sea: Seeing the Migration Disaster through Gendered Lenses

As tragic reports come in from events transpiring at both polar ends of the continent it is important that we once again recognise that gender is not synonymous with women and that normative assumptions about gender put men’s lives in danger. Despite the overwhelming and frankly revolting ‘oversight’ of western media to cover the story and other turmoil on the continent this week (Ethiopia mourns the loss of yet more Christians at the hands of ISIL and UN workers are attacked by Al Shabab in Somalia), in many of the larger cities of South Africa there have been violent, gruesome and fatal protests against immigration and immigrants ‘stealing jobs’ as a result of the high unemployment rate in the country. Meanwhile in Europe we are seeing this nationalist, racist and xenophobic agenda play out in the Mediterranean Sea where hundreds of migrants and refugees fleeing conflict and poverty have drowned in the sinking of several ‘migrant boats’ carrying people from Libya to southern Europe. 

"...there is no doubt that anti-immigration rhetoric, in times of economic crisis, has lead to both political and humanitarian crises in both regions"

Whilst personally I consider immigration to be a prosperous and crucial component of global progress and refugee aid to be an overwhelmingly important responsibility of developed nations and organisations such as the EU, there is no doubt that anti-immigration rhetoric, in times of economic crisis, has lead to both political and humanitarian crises in both regions. The dangerous, scare-mongering and scape-goating discourse surrounding immigration, specifically in Europe (I cannot speak for South Africa) has absolutely been partially responsible for this migrant disaster: under the current body of MEP’s the sea rescue mission Mare Nostrum service was cut in favour of a cheaper and less comprehensive alternative: Triton. This was arguably in the ‘hope’ that fewer migrants would make the journey if they did not consider it safe. These decisions were made by anti-immigration MEP’s who are elected in democracies in Europe. This is a specific consequence of the rise of extreme-right, anti-immigration parties in Europe including The National Front in France and UKIP in Britain. In Africa, where South Africa has a tendency to consider itself superior to other central African states a similar atmosphere prevails. These two disasters are intimately connected both ideologically and geopolitically and it is fundamental that attitudes towards migration and refugees are combatted and alleviated.

It overwhelmingly proven that migration, particularly from and between developing states, is a male dominated arena as a result of the perceived responsibility that the man in (heteronormative) relationships will be the breadwinner whilst the women should remain at home and care for the children. In both South Africa and off the shores of Libya men are in danger as a result of this burden. Evidently, no one should face these brutal attacks and catastrophes, yet it is an oversight to consider migration a gender-blind issue. As I have detailed before, nationalism is often considered to be affiliated with typically masculine traits put on boys and not on girls. This has its roots in pride, defence and protector-ship also associated with masculine norms. So, whilst masculinity is arguably highly instrumental in the nationalist disaster, it also plays out in the gendered death toll of these atrocities. Whilst not sufficient to explain this crisis there is once again no doubt that gender plays a crucial role in whom is affected and why/how they are affected by migration politics.