Gendering the "Calais Jungle" Eviction

Photo: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/calais-jungle-eviction-how-gynaecology-without-borders-working-protect-vulnerable-pregnant-1546247

Today French riot police will return to Calais with their bulldozers and their tear gas to continue demolishing the Southern half of the refugee camp known as ‘the Calais jungle.’ They do so under the guise of an ‘humanitarian operation’ aimed at relocating refugees to shipping containers in the north of the site or other camps in France but many refugees are fearful to leave Calais as this renders their dreams of crossing the channel much less likely. If someone could tell me what is humanitarian about throwing tear gas at some of the world’s most vulnerable I would be sincerely grateful…

I understand the situation in Calais exemplifies the complete mess that is the European refugee crisis more generally but I cannot see that this is the solution. Beyond this, there are gendered ramifications of camps like ‘the jungle’ worldwide and some specific to Calais which are underrepresented in the current news. According to the latest Help Refugee census and contrary to French government figures there are approximately 5497 people living in the area known as the jungle. This includes 205 women and 651 children, 423 of which are unaccompanied. These figures reveal a lot about the gender dynamics of the crisis. Male refugees clearly substantially outweigh their female counterparts and this is a demonstration of two gendered tropes present around the world: Firstly, the ‘breadwinner’ model puts sizeable pressure on men to bring a financial income to their family and thus some, unable to find enough work locally, leave their homes to work in Europe. Secondly, it is crucial to remember that many of these refugees are fleeing conflict in their home countries (conflict that has be exacerbated by western powers no less) and in conflict scenarios there is additional pressure on men to fight. It is assumed that all men embody a militarised masculinity that can be mobilised at any time. In reality, this is a myth and the number of men fleeing conflict pre or post-soldiering shows this. For those who have fought, PTSD is also a concern along with other mental health conditions that men might be less likely to ask for help with. The eviction process will make these problems worse given its violent and destructive means. Equally, men might be less likely to receive asylum based on the fact they are men because there is a lot of media hysteria that presents ‘Arab men’ as uncivilised and sexually aggressive. This is racism and discrimination that confronts vulnerable men in very real ways.

The comparatively tiny population of women in the jungle are no better off unfortunately. To begin with, there was a cordoned off area for women and children but these beds filled up long ago and women have since been forced to live in the wider camp. There have been reports, unfortunately often from the right-wing media in France and the UK, of sexual harassment in the jungle. I do not condone this being hijacked and used as ‘anti-migrant propaganda’ but at the same I think it is crucial that this problem is not ignored. (The Cologne sexual assaults on New Years Eve provide a good example of this political struggle.) Women in such vulnerable positions are evidently more at risk of sexual harassment and assault and there have also been rumours of women being force to turn to prostitution to keep themselves alive and protected. On the other hand, some NGOs report that accompanied women are being forced to stay inside by their husbands because they also fear sexual assault. There is also significant concern about the lack of women’s health resources including sanitary towels, contraception and gynaecological support making the risk of sexually transmitted diseases very high. There are reports of women having miscarriages or giving birth in enormously difficult conditions. Gynaecologists without borders is doing some amazing work here in order to protect pregnant women in the jungle but they are challenged by a lack of resources and mistrust from many women.

Speaking of pregnancy the ‘womenandchildren’ trope is omnipresent in media reports of the Calais jungle and in the case of its destruction, images of ‘womenandchildren’ being gassed fuels disgust towards the French government. As mentioned above, there are 651 children in the refugee camp, 423 of which do not have known parents and seem to be unaccompanied in the jungle. As is often the case, women might have to take the burden of caring for their own and possibly others children because of the expectation that they are nurturing mothers. This may see them going without food in order to feed their children or missing out on asylum because they have a child in tow and are thus less likely to work upon arriving (although this might also have the opposite effect as they are seen as more vulnerable.)

The little salvation these refugees have taken in the last few months may be destroyed this week. Particularly, for outnumbered women these community environments are crucial to their support networks. Despite the French government’s announcement that community buildings will not be destroyed a story from a group of women in the camp tells a different tale: just this month The Calais Sessions recorded an all-female gospel choir from a makeshift church in the jungle. Days later their church and ergo this community support was destroyed by the eviction police. All of the above gendered problems are exacerbated by the current violence and unrest in the camp and as other camps like this begin to swell throughout Europe inn Lesbos and the Balkans it is crucial that these conversations are gendered. Gendered discrimination is rife and as more and more women arrive in the camps, NGOs need to be equipped to deal with the additional issues they bring. The politics of the refugee crisis are complex and difficult to face but I find it hard to believe that violent eviction is the solution.