Gender (in)equality and the obsolescence of immigration detention: paradoxes from the field

• In Event: Immigration, crime & citizenship, Panel 6, Immigration detention and deportability.

Abstract

Women have always been a minority inside immigration detention centres in Spain. Reports and also academic publications have documented the discrimination and gender inequality that are the norm in these facilites. In the legislation ruling immigration detention centres, women and gender issues are almost absent with the exception of the categorization of women as “vulnerable” groups but with no specific measures proposed. However, the increasing arrivals to the Canary Islands in the last few years, accompanied by the rising number of women and women with children, have started to change the landscape of detention in this geographic location: women are neither send to immigration detention nor deported. Instead, as they are labelled as “vulnerable”, they are sent to a more humanitarian and better equipped facilities. However, in the functioning of these facilities, gender stereotypes and roles are mobilized and (re)produced. In our paper, we will argue that the attention to gender inequalities in relation to border control is leading to the decline of immigration detention for women. But, this process is based on the movilization of very traditional gender roles (victimhood, motherhood, etc.) and stereotypes (trafficked, misled, etc.) by authorities and also the NGOs (which are taking an increasing prominent role in humanitarian centres). Thus, although these traditional roles work as “protective factors” preventing detention, they also reinforce gender stereotypes, preventing from achieving real gender transformative goals.

Authors

• Ana Ballesteros-Pena, Complutense University of Madrid

• Cristina Fernandez Bessa, University of A Coruna