Debunking five common myths about migrant women
How harmful stereotypes undermine migrant women and what must change
Migration is often talked about in numbers – how many people cross borders, what it costs, and how much migrants contribute to economies. Yet each statistic hides a personal journey driven by courage, ambition, and resilience.
Nearly half of the world's 304 million international migrants are women, representing 38.7 per cent of the global migrant labour force. Many work in domestic and care roles, holding up the care economy – the systems that keep families, communities, and economies afloat.
But despite their enormous contributions, migrant women are too often reduced to stereotypes that ultimately shape how they are treated. From being framed as victims to being vilified as threats, or valued only for cheap labour, these beliefs are not only inaccurate but also dangerous. They reinforce discrimination, shape policy decisions, justify exclusion, and put many migrant women – especially the most marginalized - at greater risk of violence.
Here are five of the most common myths migrant women face and the realities behind them:
“It is a profound injustice to confine migrant women within the narrow story of victimhood. While we must never ignore the very real hardships and vulnerabilities they can face, we choose to tell a fuller story: one of resilience, resourcefulness, and leadership. They are not just subjects of circumstance but active agents of change, navigating complex systems to build new lives and powerfully shape the societies they join.”
“It is a profound injustice to confine migrant women within the narrow story of victimhood. While we must never ignore the very real hardships and vulnerabilities they can face, we choose to tell a fuller story: one of resilience, resourcefulness, and leadership. They are not just subjects of circumstance but active agents of change, navigating complex systems to build new lives and powerfully shape the societies they join.”
Myth 1: Migrant women are victims
This narrative might sound sympathetic, but it can strip migrant women of power. It casts them as helpless, passive, and dependent, and rarely as capable and empowered individuals seeking their own opportunities.
Through this lens, women on the move are often described as:
- Inherently vulnerable and in need of rescue.
- Passive recipients of aid.
- Victims of trafficking and violence.
- “Trailing wives” who migrate only to follow their husbands.
This framing reduces migrant women to one-dimensional depictions of suffering and subservience, narrowing how they are perceived by communities and portrayed by governments and the media.
Yet across the world, migrant women organize, build communities, and support families under extraordinary and often challenging conditions. In Ethiopia, for instance, a UN Women survey found that one in five migrant women experienced gender-based violence during migration, yet many have since become community advocates for safer migration.
Did you know?
In 2022, biased algorithms used by the authorities in the Netherlands falsely profiled young single mothers with “foreign-sounding names” – particularly those from Morocco, Suriname and Türkiye – as high-risk for childcare benefit fraud.
The Government later acknowledged the scandal in the European Parliament, revealing how stereotypes can become embedded in public systems.
Myth 2: Migrant women are burdens on society
This harmful belief fuels racism, sexism, xenophobia and exclusion. It paints migrant women as drains on national resources and as unproductive members of society, especially if they are racially marginalized or have children.
Common assumptions include:
- Depicting women's fertility as a threat to national identity for fear their children will change or dilute a country's culture.
- Accusing migrant women of draining and abusing the welfare system or failing to contribute.
- Framing them as unwilling or unable to integrate.
These stereotypes reinforce the idea of “welfare chauvinism”, the belief that public benefits should be reserved for so-called “real” citizens. This belief often excludes migrants, even those who may have lived in a country for years, have legal status, or cannot prove citizenship. In practice, this means many migrant women are denied essential services like childcare and healthcare.
Did you know?
A study in South Africa found that many local women viewed migrant women with jealousy and mistrust – not just over access to services and jobs, but because of their independence and determination to build better lives.
This resentment exposed migrant women to unfair treatment when looking for work, starting businesses, or trying to settle in their communities.
Myth 3: Migrant women are good for the economy as a cheap fix to labour shortages
At first glance, this idea may sound positive. But it values migrant women only for their productivity, rather than being seen as rights holders and equal participants in the economy. It is the idea that they are welcome if they come to fill cheap and exploitable labour and skills gaps but turned away when this is no longer the case.
Economic arguments dominate pro-migration narratives, but these:
- Focus on productivity and remittances.
- Ignore the rights, well-being, and dignity of migrant women.
- Create a conditional acceptance: “You're welcome as long as you're productive”.
Many economies depend on migrant women for care and domestic work, yet these workers are typically underpaid and excluded from social protections like sick leave, pensions, and healthcare coverage.
When they can no longer contribute to the economy – due to health issues, age, motherhood – the same societies that once welcomed migrant women treat them as a burden again. By perceiving migrant women only through the economic productivity lens, we risk treating them as resources to exploit, instead of human beings with rights, needs, potential, and dreams.
Did you know?
In the Philippines, migrant women are often celebrated as "heroes of the nation" for the remittances they send home. But this praise masks the huge personal costs of separation, including being apart from their families for years on end and the lack of family reunification policies.
Many migrant women endure exploitative conditions abroad, while their contributions are valued purely in economic terms.
Myth 4: Migrant women are promiscuous
Sexist and racist stereotypes often intersect to sexualize migrant women, particularly those from certain regions. In some countries, migrant women are wrongly seen as “morally deviant” or a threat to local family values and cultural norms.
These tropes include:
- Hypersexualizing certain migrant women.
- Associating them with sex work or illicit activities.
- Framing them as outsiders who are a threat to cultural norms.
Did you know?
Studies from different regions show how sexualised stereotypes can shape attitudes toward migrant women. Examples include:
- Venezuelan women migrants in parts of Latin America were accused of "stealing husbands".
- Russian and Ukrainian migrant women faced stereotypes linking them to sex work or threatening local marriages.
- In Ethiopia, some returning women were judged "immoral", especially if they came home with children.
These examples don't represent all attitudes everywhere, but they show how stereotypes can isolate women and expose them to further harm.
Myth 5: Migrant women are bad or selfish mothers
Migrant mothers often continue to care for their children from afar, managing schooling, healthcare, and emotional wellbeing through phone calls, sending money home, and online communication. This "transnational mothering" sustains families but comes at an immense emotional cost for both mothers and children.
Common stereotypes migrant mothers face include:
- Viewing as neglectful for leaving children behind, even when their work provides for the family.
- Labelling as bad mothers for prioritizing financial support over physical presence.
Did you know?
Nearly one in three care workers globally are migrant women, many doing essential work that keeps families and economies afloat. Despite sustaining the global care economy, migrant mothers are often judged more harshly than praised.
Their financial contributions are expected, not celebrated – and many are still accused of neglect when distance is the only way they can provide for their families.
Beyond “good” versus “bad” narratives
Whether cast as villains, victims, threats, or saviours of the economy, migrant women are constantly boxed into binary roles. These narratives ignore the intersecting inequalities of gender, class, race and migration status (among others) that shape their lives.
To build migration systems that are safe and fair for all, we need to change the way we talk about migrant women and the policies that affect them. That means celebrating the strength, agency, resolve, and contributions that migrant women make every day and taking action to ensure their rights and dignity are upheld at all stages of migration.
What you can do:
- See migrant women for who they are, not the myths around them. Their decisions are shaped not by the stereotypes projected onto them, but by hope, ambition, and the desire for better lives for them and their families.
- Recognise and value their contributions. Migrant women keep households, communities, and entire economies running - yet face persistent barriers to safety and opportunity.
- Challenge the bias they face. Harmful stereotypes, racism, sexism, and xenophobia show up in daily life and in laws - this must be called out and dismantled.
- Support the lives they are building. Migrant women bring skills, languages, rich cultures, and fresh perspectives that strengthen every society they join.
When you hear a myth, call it out. Because rights don't stay at home when we migrate.
