Migrant Women’s Rights Project

In 2016, the Barbra Schlifer Clinic convened a consortium of organizations, front-line service providers, agencies and researchers who separately work with women and gender diverse people with precarious immigration status who are vulnerable to trafficking.

Migrant Women’s Rights Project serves women and gender diverse people whose difficulties intersect with labour migration, experience gender-based violence, and become vulnerable to trafficking. In part because of their precarious status, and fears of deportation or reprisals by former (domestic) employers, they experience extreme isolation from access to supports.

Through a combination of research, street-level outreach activities, and education/information awareness, practical supports such as counselling, legal information, access to primary health services and housing referrals, our consortium will seek to improve access to remedy and support as well as primary prevention for women and gender diverse people experiencing multiple marginalization and exploitation in relation to their immigration status and their vulnerability to trafficking.

Deconstructing "Trafficking"

Our community-based research highlights the gaps between women and gender diverse people’s lived experiences and dominant labour and sex trafficking approaches.

Download, read and share our 2019 discussion paper. Join the conversation to advance legal rights and design responsive service delivery for migrant women and gender diverse people’s rights.