Page 35 - A Gender-Sensitive Indian Foreign Policy- Why? and How?

Indian Council
of World Affairs

Taking into account the narratives of women domestic workers
and their experiences of migration will help in reframing an
inclusive policy.

articulation of migration requires an overhaul as well. Currently, when
we try to think about migration within the strict regimes of nation state
and state borders - transnational migration helps us to re-imagine this
methodological nationalism and help us to focus on life stories of migrants.
Feminist scholarship around migration helps us for this methodological
re-imagination. So let’s pay attention to the narratives of migrant women,
what they want and it should be a bottom-up approach instead of a top-
down approach. Clearly the existing age ban is coming from this top-down
approach of our policy makers.

All stakeholders need to be included in the decision making process. The
problem with existing policy making is that there is a huge binary between
who is considered as an expert and who is considered as merely a beneficiary.
For example, taking into account the narratives of women domestic workers
and their experiences of migration will help in reframing an inclusive policy.
A participatory approach taking into account the perspectives from the
margins is long overdue.

In fact the life stories of women with whom I interacted over a period of
time open up the possibilities to approach migration regime with a new
framework. Listening to women’s stories helps us to see how they navigate
through a system which makes their conditions precarious, they are not
always vulnerable victims but significant participants in the global migration
flow. Their migration trajectories need to be understood within their situated
contexts, not merely within the binaries of legality and illegality. I will stop
here and thank you for your time.

Amb. Nirupama Rao Thank you, thank you so much Dr Bindulakshmi for providing that micro
(Chair and Moderator) perspective that should inform our macro perspectives and the need for

sensitivity in using terms like illegal migrants, confusing trafficking with
migration and not really understanding what the aspirations of women at
the grassroots are when they seek avenues for migration. Thank you so much
for your comments

Listening to women’s stories helps us to see how they navigate
through a system which makes their conditions precarious, they
are not always vulnerable victims but significant participants in
the global migration flow. 35

A GENDER-SENSITIVE INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY Why? and How?