Segregating Processes, Vulnerabilities, and Exclusions: Socio-Legal Challenges for Undocumented Migrant Women in Sweden

Feminization of migration has highlighted the distinct challenges faced by undocumented migrant women, who experience heightened vulnerabilities due to their gender, immigration status, and socio-economic conditions. Notwithstanding increasing vulnerability of undocumented migrant women and its impact on migrant community in general, less sociopolitical attention has been paid to the reproduction of the multiplicity of their segregation and exclusion in society.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, combining the perspectives of social work and legal science, this research critically evaluates the structural and institutional mechanisms that contribute to reinforcement of the harsh living conditions of undocumented migrant women, and contribute to generating social policies to reduce the women’s vulnerability, segregation and exploitation.

Drawing on cutting-edge socio-legal insights, the project foregrounds the lived realities of undocumented migrant women. The innovative intersectional approach examines not only how these vulnerabilities intersect but also why existing policy mechanisms - intended to promote social cohesion - often fall short.