The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Each for Equal’.
We asked Eszter, a 2019/20 Routes mentor, to share her reflections, opinions, hopes and visions for a world where each of us takes responsibility for fighting for equality.
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Equality to me means a way of living together that allows us all to thrive; it means fair access to shared resources and opportunities; it means a chance for all to be recognised as valuable members of the community.
When I moved to the UK, I was shocked by the discrepancy between my experience, and how asylum seekers are treated. As a white woman with an EU passport and a PhD in economics, I was not asked to prove that I deserved to be here. I was welcome.
Asylum seekers do not enjoy this luxury: the unspoken, implicit assumption underlying the UK asylum system seems to be that people seeking refuge here represent a potential burden (or worse, a threat) to the country. Consequently, the system is designed to keep them out. From my experience as a Routes mentor, that assumption could not be further from the truth.
The women I have met through the Routes programme all amazed me with their strength, passion, hard work, resilience, kindness, curiosity and endless positivity despite their difficult situation. Many of them hold valuable qualifications, and those who have not had the chance to get formal training yet are eager to learn more and gain skills and experience. Those who are not allowed to work seek out opportunities to volunteer. They have so much to give, and we have so much to learn from them.
My mentee, Suzane, constantly amazed me with her intelligence, her unique points of view, her keen eye for detail, her appreciation for beauty and for her ability to find a silver lining in even the darkest situations. Changing our perceptions about asylum seekers and seeing them for the valuable members of our community that they are seems to me an important step toward removing the inequality in the system.
I am really inspired by the work of Seema Jayachandran, who is a professor of economics at Northwestern University. Her research brings questions around equality, fairness and inclusion to the forefront of economics. She studies the way traditional gender norms shape women’s access to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, and tests ways to empower women through peer support and changing attitudes.