Migration & Empowerment of Women
Brunson McKinley, the Director General of The International Organization for Migration, writes: “Migration is one of the defining issues of the twenty-first century. It is now an essential, inevitable and potentially beneficial component of the economic and social life of every country and region.” McKinley says the challenge is to enhance the positives and reduce the negative impacts of migration.
Approximately 50 percent of migrants are women. Some of the dangers they face include violence, theft and fraud. They are also at greater risk of sexual abuse and trafficking which increases their chances of getting sexually transmitted diseases and of having unwanted pregnancies. Many migrant women are forced to leave their children when they leave their countries. Much of the money they earn is sent home.
This week we join LCWR in encouraging advocacy and justice for migrants and for the empowerment of migrant women. Promotion of the UN Millennium Development Goals is one way to help ensure this. If you haven’t already done so, please visit the Millennium Campaign website for more information and to sign up for updates and action alerts.
Visit the International Organization for Migration website for current facts and trends about migrants.
Prayer for Women Migrant Domestic Workers
Blessed are the women who care for others’ children
in order to provide for their own,
Who leave their homes, their families, their friends and their cultures,
Who do all of this, not by choice, but by force of necessity.
Blessed is their strength.
Blessed is their courage.
Blessed is their sacrifice.
Blessed are the children who must grow up without their mothers’ care,
Who experience loneliness and sadness at the great void in their lives.
Blessed is their strength.
Blessed is their courage.
Blessed is their sacrifice.
Cursed is the global economic system that impoverishes billions of women, men and children
throughout the world.
Cursed are those who take advantage of these women
as they seek to provide for their families,
denying them their rights and their dignity.
Cursed are those who see the suffering of these women and do nothing.
Blessed be the communities of people that are impoverished, underemployed and hungry due to unjust economic conditions
dictated by the countries of the North.
Blessed be these communities that lose woman after woman
as they leave to find work in the countries of the North.
Blessed be these communities
as the children grow up in them without mothers.
O God, Heal us with your life-giving Spirit of love.
Help us to work compassionately and mercifully for a more just world.
Amen.
Used with permission.
We are grateful to Jan Linley
Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
