A Woman without a Man is a Woman at Risk: Women at Risk in Australian Humanitarian Programs

Understandings of risk, derived from UN guidelines on gender, have been used to develop a category of targeted immigration, whereby the emigration of women from difficult circumstances, particularly areas of war and/or flight, is expedited. In Australia, this and other special categories are used to accept single women and women with children whose partners have been killed or are missing. In the context of discussion of immigrant policy and programmes, we critique the use of the category to facilitate migration and question the notion of risk as a state before, but not following, migration. The circumstances of immigration and resettlement suggest that women remain at risk, often physical as well as emotional and financial. This has implications for the provision and delivery of support services.