Female migration often looks like a chance for economic empowerment, yet it remains a journey full of pitfalls. Gender-based violence (GBV) stands at the front of them, and it hits women on the move hardest.
In Benin, the GBV that migrant women endure marks the social, legal and economic fractures running through migration. Awareness campaigns seem to succeed, but a more complex reality hides behind them: a social group especially exposed, caught where several systems of domination meet.
For many women, migration is not only a change of place. It is a life marked by physical, psychological or economic violence, often invisible yet deeply shaping. This fits a worrying global trend. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), women make up nearly 48% of the 281 million international migrants. Yet they are over-represented among the victims of violence, especially in the informal sectors that employ them in large numbers, such as domestic work, cross-border trade and farming.
In West Africa, a region of strong intra-regional mobility, UN Women data indicate that nearly one woman in three suffers violence in her lifetime, and the figure tends to climb in a migratory context. Weak social networks, economic dependence and a sometimes precarious legal status raise the risk further and deepen migrant women’s vulnerability.
Benin, host country facing its own challenges
Benin holds a singular position, as a country of both emigration and immigration. The migrant women who settle there come mostly from neighbouring countries, such as Togo, Nigeria, Niger and Côte d’Ivoire. Statistics specific to GBV among migrant women remain scarce, but national data hint at the scale.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Demography, more than 69% of Beninese women have already suffered some form of gender-based violence. Reports from the National Institute for Women also record a rise in reported cases since 2021, particularly in towns and cities.
For migrant women, even compiling the figures is hard. Their limited access to complaint channels, their fear of reprisals or expulsion, and language barriers all feed a worrying statistical silence. That invisibility deepens their marginalisation and complicates any tailored policy.
Between legal progress and enforcement limits
Since 2021, Benin has undertaken important reforms to strengthen women’s protection against violence. It has adopted specific laws and aligned itself with international instruments, notably the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. These steps show real political will.
Yet a gap persists between the law and its enforcement. The main challenge is to make sure that every woman in Benin, including a ‘foreign’ one, knows where to turn when threatened or harmed.
In practice, several obstacles stand in the way: migrant women’s limited awareness of their rights, too few specialised shelters, scarce resources for psychosocial care and social pressures that normalise certain forms of violence. On top of this, a precarious legal status can breed mistrust of institutions.
GBV in migration, violence with many faces
The violence that migrant women suffer takes many, interwoven forms. Testimonies gathered by organisations working on migration describe sexual abuse, harassment at work and economic exploitation. This violence grows in lopsided power relations, where gender, nationality and economic precarity combine to deepen vulnerability.
In domestic work, for example, employers often hire migrant women with no formal contract, which exposes them to abuse with no recourse. In informal trade, they can face extortion or violence, sometimes from the very people meant to protect them.
According to the World Bank, migrant women in sub-Saharan Africa earn on average 30 to 40% less than their male counterparts. That wage gap deepens their economic dependence and narrows their room to escape violence.
In Benin, organisations recently gave GBV awareness training to nearly 200 migrant women, according to non-governmental groups. The step matters, but it falls far short of the need. Several priorities remain: spotting violence early, steering victims to the right services, mediating in the community and strengthening grassroots awareness.
Progress is visible, but the situation of migrant women calls for a more joined-up approach. Benin needs better data to guide policy, stronger access to justice through mechanisms suited to non-nationals and support for migrant women’s economic empowerment, which is key to their protection.
Protecting migrant women, global stake
Worldwide, protecting migrant women is part of the Sustainable Development Goals, notably SDG 5 on gender equality and SDG 10 on reducing inequality. Yet economic, climatic and security crises keep fuelling precarious migration and expose women to more violence.
To protect migrant women is to recognise their place in economic and social life while guaranteeing their basic rights. The fight against GBV cannot rest on one-off awareness drives; it needs deep structural change.
“To protect a migrant woman is to protect humanity on the move.” The phrase captures the scale of the task. Beyond national borders, violence against migrant women raises a global question of social justice. As long as these women suffer in silence, public policy will remain half-finished.
The challenge is now clear: move from awareness to action, and build protection systems that are inclusive, accessible and effective. Migration can be an opportunity, but it must never mean violence.
