Women take on men’s jobs to feed their families

Photo: Y.O/IRIN Radio

More and more women are going to the market everyday to look for work

Khadijo Mahamud, a mother of five, goes to Bakara market every day to look for work, despite the constant shelling. Her youngest child is 10 months old but Mahamud knows she has no choice but to leave him with her 10-year-old and venture out to find food for the family.

“I have to leave the children and try and find something for them to eat; I will do almost any job,” she told IRIN on 14 October. “Some days I get to wash clothes, but other days I work as a porter or clean stores.”

On a good day, Mahamud makes 50,000 Somali shillings (US$1.50). “There are days I don’t make even that much.”

Like Mahamud, a growing number of women in Mogadishu has been pushed into tasks that were traditionally considered men’s work, such as serving as porters and pushing handcarts in the market.

Mahamud said most women risked a lot coming to Bakara market but had no alternative. She said she had lost many friends in the market, killed by shells.

“You will be carrying something for a client and then the shelling starts and you have nowhere to run; many friends died trying to earn some money for their children,” Mahamud added.

Sharifo Adow, head of the Coalition of Grassroots Women’s Organizations (COGWO), said more and more women were carrying heavy loads in Bakara – the largest open-air market in the country – and one of the most dangerous places in the Mogadishu, with regular shelling by various fighting groups.

“In the past, we were used to seeing women selling tea or drinks in the market but now you see more and more women porters or pushing handcarts,” she said.

Adow said most of the women had lost their husbands and had no one else to help them, “so they do whatever is necessary to provide for their children. They are so desperate they will do anything to be able to get food to the children.

“It is not only women who lost their husbands who work,” she said. “There are many whose husbands are alive but are the family’s breadwinners.”

She said many of the men would not do some of the things the women did to feed their children.

“These [women] are the poorest of the poor who could not even afford to get out of the city and go to the IDP camps,” Adow said. “They live a hand-to-mouth existence and cannot even afford to get sick for one day.”

The Bakara market has suffered many casualties in fighting between government forces and two Islamist insurgent groups trying to topple the government.

Nuurto Ali, a mother of four, also does labourer’s work in the market. She lost her husband five years ago when a shell landed on him. “I have been working here ever since.”

Ali said the only help she gets is from her eldest son, Ali, 14, who works as shoeshiner in the streets of Mogadishu.

“Every morning, even when there is fighting going on, I am here at dawn, so I can get the early work,” Ali said.

Adow said aid agencies should think about setting up income-generating activities to help these women and their families.

“These are people that have fallen into a black hole; they are not where the aid agencies are and no one else is helping them,” Adow said.

The Women’s Charter – a year on

Source: womensgrid.freecharity.org.uk

A year ago Asylum Aid unofficially launched the Charter of rights of women seeking asylum. The Charter was developed by a number of specialist organisations and members of the refugee, women and human rights sectors. It is a framework of principles and suggestions for the UK Border Agency in their treatment of women asylum seekers, the end goal being to create a gender-sensitive culture within the organisation.

This past year the Charter has been endorsed by over 140 broad ranging organisations including; Amnesty International UK, Oxfam, and Liberty. Three official launches and workshops were held. Throughout the UK several publications have featured the Charter. Asylum Aid has met with the UK Border Agency three times to discuss the objectives and goals of the Charter, the last meeting’s outcome can be read on the Charter update page. There is now an official logo for the Charter and it has its own page in Women’s Asylum News.

The Westminster launch of the Charter was enormously successful with over 80 attendees engaging in a lively and interesting debate. Neil Gerrard MP chaired the meeting and Helen Bamber OBE, founder of the Helen Bamber Foundation addressed the attendees and gave a moving speech recounting the tales of women who had suffered persecution. Talking about the failures of the asylum system Helen Bamber illustrated why the Charter is so important to asylum seekers and those in the refugee and asylum seeker communities. Jonathan Ellis from the Refugee Council also spoke; discussing the many gender specific issues which face female asylum seekers. He spoke about the value of consistent and coherent goals to work toward in seeking change in the system. The night ended with a spirited and engaging debate.

In March Oxfam Cymru, the Welsh Refugee Council and Displaced People in Action launched the Charter in the Welsh National Assembly. Over 80 individuals from a wide range of sectors including asylum seekers, representatives of the Welsh National Assembly and individuals who work in the refugee community attended the launch. Speakers included Mike Lewis, the Chief Executive of the Welsh Refugee Council and Alan Bull, the Poverty Programme Coordinator of Oxfam. The Welsh launch represents the direction the Charter was always intended to take as a set of unifying principles that organisations can view and advocate as their own.

The Charter has featured in a number of published articles, including the Law Gazette, Positively Women magazine, The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants Bulletin, Women’s Asylum News, the Scottish Refugee Council Newsletter and the Violence Against Women Blog. These publications helped raise the profile of the Charter and brought in new endorsements. In another exciting moment the Charter was mentioned on Woman’s Hour when Asylum Aid’s Debora Singer was a guest on the programme in July 2008.

A series of workshops have been held for practitioners who have endorsed the Charter which yielded a practical action plan for getting the ideals of the Charter incorporated. The broad range of organisations which participated means that the plans are wide ranging and progressive. The action plan means that the work to get the UK Border Agency to integrate the objectives of the Charter into their asylum process can be pursued in a coherent and consistent fashion.

The past year has seen the Charter make great progress but the year ahead should prove to be just as exciting. The one year anniversary of the Parliamentary launch of the Charter will see the promotion of a new overarching set of demands, namely:

• Women asylum seekers are entitled to the equivalent minimum standards at all stages of the asylum determination system as women victims in the criminal justice system.
• Women asylum seekers in Immigration Removal Centres are entitled to the equivalent minimum standards as women in prisons in the UK.
• Women asylum seekers are entitled to the same minimum standards in terms of maternity benefits as British women.

In Spring 2010 we intend to produce an impact report to show what progress the UKBA has made on gender issues. We welcome everyone who is working on issues affecting female asylum seekers to keep each other informed through the Charter Google group. Specific areas of progress so far are the increased provision of childcare so that women do not have to give details of their asylum claim in front of their children and the plans to up-date the UKBA gender guidelines which includes reference to asylum applicants being asked their preference for a male or female interviewer and interpreter.

The number of endorsements for the Charter grows weekly and we are looking forward to celebrating the milestone of reaching 200 organisations. If your organisation has not yet endorsed the Charter please do so by emailing the organisation’s name to charter@asylumaid.org.uk. Your support will further enhance the status of the Charter and through this help promote the rights of women seeking asylum. And if your organisation has endorsed the Charter but has not yet joined the Google group now would be a great time to do that as the next year will prove to be eventful. Information on joining the Google group can be found on our website at http://www.asylumaid.org.uk

This is the Leading Article in the most recent issue of Women’s Asylum news which also contains:
• Sector Update p.3-4
• UK and International News p.4-9
• UK Events and Conferences p.10-11
• New Publications p.11-13
• Charter Update p.14

You can download it from http://www.asylumaid.org.uk/data/files/publications/108/WAN_Issue_84_final_pdf.pdf

Please contact Claireb@asylumaid.org.uk if you wish to subscribe or contribute to future editions of Women’s Asylum News

The Cook & Eat Healthitude Project

The Cook and Eat is a BME grassroots women initiative. The sessions are open to all and they are free!

Supported by VAL, Healthitude Project and the BME Community Development Project, the initiative aims to

· Address the impact of poor eating habits on individuals, families and communities
· Promote health and wellbeing
· Bring communities together

Sessions are held every Saturdays at Barley Croft Health Living Centre, Beamont Leys, Leicester from 10:00am to 12:00noon.

For more details, please contact:

Ms Juliet Kisob
Community Development Worker
B ME Project
Age Concern Leicestershire & Rutland
Minster House
30 DeMontfort Street
Leicester , LE1 7GD
Tel: 01162237368
Mobile:07817160823

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