Seeking Refuge? - Rights of Women

• not following customs or traditions by refusing
to wear certain clothes;
• carrying out activities such as hiding people,
passing messages or giving food and shelter; or
• involvement in the women’s movement.
You may be persecuted because of a political
opinion that you have, or an opinion that
someone else thinks that you have.
Membership of a particular social group is the
most difficult of all the Refugee Convention grounds
to understand. Under the Refugee Convention, a
group will be a “particular social group” where:
• members of the group share an innate
characteristic, or a common background that
cannot be changed, or share a characteristic or
belief that is so fundamental to a person’s
identity that she or he should not be made to
change it; and / or 4
• the group has a distinct identity in the relevant
country because it is perceived as being
different by surrounding society.
Persecution cannot be the only factor that defines
the group. This means that the group must have an
identity that is different to the harm that is feared.
An innate characteristic or common background
could be your gender, sexual orientation (whether
you are heterosexual or are a lesbian) or family
membership. It does not matter if not everyone in
the group sees themselves as part of it. Members
of the group do not have to know each other, or
work or live together (although they may do). A
particular social group can be small, such as a
family, or large, including all women in a
particular country or area. Not every member of
the group has to have been persecuted for a
group to be found to exist. What is important is
that you have a well-founded fear of persecution
because of your membership of the group.
The fact that, in your country, violence against
women is socially or culturally accepted is not
relevant in deciding whether you are a member of
a particular social group, or whether the harm you
have experienced or suffered amounts to
persecution.
Some examples of people who have been
recognised as members of a particular social
group in the UK are:
• women in Pakistan;
• women in Afghanistan;
• women in Kenya (particularly Kikuyu women
under 65); and,
• women in Sierra Leone and / or women in
Sierra Leone who are at risk of female genital
mutilation; and
• people who have been trafficked from Moldova
for the purposes of sexual exploitation (who
have been forced into prostitution).
What happens if you are
persecuted because of an
identity someone thinks you
have? Imputed Convention
Reasons
It may be that you have been persecuted because
those responsible for the persecution believe
(rightly or wrongly) that you are of a particular
race, religion or political opinion, or that you are a
member of a particular social group. This is called
imputing an identity to a person. For example, a
woman may be persecuted because her husband
is known to hold a particular political view and
those responsible for the persecution believe that
she also holds that view.
The Refugee Convention protects individuals who
have a well-founded fear of persecution because
of an imputed Refugee Convention reason. This
means that a woman who is persecuted because
it is thought that she has the same political views
as her husband could claim asylum on the basis of
her imputed political opinion. She would be
protected by the Refugee Convention.
Women and the Refugee
Convention
Women may be persecuted for many reasons
but sometimes they are persecuted for their
gender.
Gender is not only about whether you are a
woman or a man, but includes all of the
differences there are between women and
men, including physical, social or cultural
differences. Gender includes the way that
women are treated because they are women,
the way that they are supposed to dress or
behave and the rights that they have (or do
not have).
The Refugee Convention reasons do not include
gender. This means that a woman who has
experienced persecution because of her gender
has to fit her claim for protection within one or
more of the Refugee Convention reasons
explained above.
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