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Chapter 5: ‘I have rights and I am free’ - Resisting gendered intersectional violence against Latin American migrant women
This chapter, by Cathy McIlwaine, highlights the types of gendered violence experienced by migrant women from Latin America and the challenges they face in securing help and support within hostile immigration environments underpinned by racialized state interventions. It discusses how Latin American migrant women develop informal ways of addressing violence and exclusion, and the collective initiatives of migrants’ and women’s rights organizations who support survivors of gender-based violence.
About the author
Cathy McIlwaine is Professor of Geography at King’s College London. Her research focuses on issues of gender, poverty and violence in cities of the global South, and on migration and gendered violence among the Latin American community in London. She works collaboratively with a range of organizations and artists in Brazil and London.
Bibliography
Domestic Abuse Bill Deb (2020), c25, 4 June, https://www.theyworkforyou.com/pbc/2019-21/Domestic_Abuse_Bill/02-0_2020-06-04a.25.4
Jiménez-Yáñez, E. and McIlwaine, C. (2021) ‘Charity researcher collaborations are key to ending gender-based violence’, Latin America Bureau, 9 December, https://lab.org.uk/wrv-charitiy-research-advocacy
McIlwaine, C. (2014) ‘Everyday urban violence and transnational displacement of Colombian urban migrants to London’, Environment and Urbanization 26(2), pp. 417–426, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956247814544416
McIlwaine, C. (2019) ‘Latin Americans in the UK: an increasingly visible population’, SLAS, https://www.slas.org.uk/post/latin-americans-in-the-uk-an-increasingly-visible-population
McIlwaine, C. (2020) ‘Living in fear during the COVID-19 crisis: migrant women with insecure immigration status and domestic violence’, KCL, https://www.kcl.ac.uk/living-in-fear-during-the-covid-19-crisis-migrant-women-with-insecure-immigration-status-and-domestic-violence
McIlwaine, C. (2021a) ‘Memories of violence against women and girls across borders’, in: Boesten, J. and Scanlon, H. (eds.) Gender and memorial arts. London: Routledge, pp. 211–229, https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/memories-of-violence-against-women-and-girlsacross-borders(646d03c7-e425-4e48-95aa-2c59e18496f0).html
McIlwaine, C (2021b) ‘Organisations | LAWRS | Step up migrant women campaign’, Latin America Bureau, 15 September, https://lab.org.uk/wrv-organisations-lawrs-step-up-migrant-women-campaign
McIlwaine, C. and Bunge, D. (2016) ‘Towards visibility: the Latin American community in London’ https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/107149344/Towards_Visibility_full_report.pdf
McIlwaine, C. and Evans, Y. (2018) ‘We can’t fight in the dark: violence against women and girls (vawg) among Brazilians in London’, https://transnationalperspectivesonvawg.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/1_mcilwaine-and-evans-london-vawg-full-report_online.pdf
McIlwaine, C. and Evans, Y. (2020) ‘Urban Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in transnational perspective: reflections from Brazilian women in London’, International Development Planning Review 42(1), pp. 93–112, https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/101707304/Urban_Violence_Against_Women_MCLLWAINE_Accepted31August2018_GREEN_AAM.pdf
McIlwaine, C. and Evans, E. (2022) ‘Navigating migrant infrastructure and gendered infrastructural violence: reflections from Brazilian women in London’, Gender, Place and Culture, https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2022.2073335
McIlwaine, C., Granada, L. and Valenzuela-Oblitas, I. (2019) ‘The right to be believed’, LAWRS https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/110500935/The_right_to_be_believed_Full_report_final.pdf
Munz, M. (2022), interview with Marilyn Thomson, 6 May, London (email correspondence).
National Domestic Workers Alliance (2018) Living in the shadows: Latina domestic workers in the Texas-Mexico border region. New York: National Domestic Workers Alliance, https://actionnetwork.org/user_files/user_files/000/024/054/original/Living_in_the_Shadows_rpt_Eng_final_screen_(1)_(1).pdf
Ryburn, M. (2021) ‘I don’t want you in my country: migrants navigating borderland violences between Colombia and Chile’, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, pp. 1–17, http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/112741/1/Ryburn_migrants_navigating_borderland_violences_published.pdf
Stevens, S., Le Cornec, G. and McIlwaine, C. (2021) ‘What is activist art? Sophie Stevens interviews Gaël Le Cornec and Cathy McIlwaine’, in: de Madeiros, A. and Kelly, D. (eds.) Language debates: theory and reality in language learning, teaching and research. London: John Murray Press
Related podcast episode
Women Resisting Violence: 3. Step Up Migrant Women
‘If you don’t have the right to request emergency help from public services, how are you going to survive?’
Gil migrated to the UK from Brazil with her partner and children as a tourist, and subsequently became undocumented. When she fled abuse, she was met with hostility by UK police and ended up homeless with a child in mid-December. Finding the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) changed her life and Gil now works on the group's Step Up Migrant Women Campaign to highlight the vulnerability of migrant women with insecure immigration status in situations of domestic abuse. LAWRS also works with Migrants in Action (MinA), a community theatre group dedicated to Brazilian women in London who have experienced gender violence. Through theatre, they build a sense of community, understand and break cycles of violence and raise their visibility as migrant women.
In English
En español
Em português
Chapters
Click through to learn more, find extra information, and access online references:
Women Resisting Violence: Voices and Experiences from Latin America
Chapter 2. ‘Care for those who care’: Domestic workers fight back against violence – Marilyn Thomson
Chapter 5. ‘I have rights and I am free’: Resisting gendered intersectional violence against Latin American migrant women – Cathy McIlwaine
Conclusions and Recommendations
Appendix: Women Resisting Violence, the multilingual podcast
Press release
For press enquiries contact wrv@lab.org.uk. You can view and download press materials here.