INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS Understanding Multiple Discrimination against Labour Migrants in Asia An Intersectional Analysis SOHOON LEE AND NICOLA PIPER June 2013 n The analysis of labour migration with the intersectionality methodology opens up the view to the multiplicity of discriminatory mechanisms and complex identities of female labour migrants in Asia. Acknowledging the intersectionality of the migrants’ multiple identities, which might include characteristics such as non-citizens, female, low-income, bonded and undocumented enables policymakers to devise compre­hensive responses to challenges faced by female migrants. n Multiple identities of migrant women pertain to complex structures that are highly unequal for women. Patriarchal regimes, neoliberal globalisation and social hier­archy often shape economic, political and socio-cultural institutions in ways that are disadvantageous to marginalised women. Women are typically subject to labour markets stratified by gender, geography, educational level and class, and are denied equal access to jobs, skill development, housing, land, and other basic services and resources. n There are internationally agreed standards for the different roles migrant women occupy: as women, workers and migrants. The biggest challenge concerns how to address the structural inequalities that lie at the intersection of class and gender in order to address certain push factors of migration in Asia, as well as the gendered channelling into certain jobs and roles(in other words, foreign wives) of women post-migration. n So far, governments have not adequately addressed the vulnerability of migrant women resulting from the intersection of migrant status, gender and the situation of being a precarious worker. More interventions at both local and national level are necessary to address intersectional oppression.