Listening Project

"We can start from justice": a migrant women's listening project

For International Women’s Day 2018, Safety4Sisters held a conference to demand migrant women’s rights to justice. Invited to speak were women’s rights organisations - Southall Black Sisters and Latin American Women’s Rights Service - but also, it was crucial that we foreground the voices of the migrant women with whom we work each week at Safety4Sisters.

To do this in a way that protected the anonymity of the women, we worked with anthropologist, Dr. Ruth Webber, to co-create a series of ‘Listening Project’ style audio clips that allowed the women involved to address an audience through conversation with each other on issues of injustice, destitution, mental health, immigration and violence.

The women that come to the migrant women's group at Safety4Sisters are passionate advocates for justice, safety and liberation. They are critical of oppressive structures, institutions and discriminatory professionals, they speak of human rights and social justice, and they want to live lives that are free from all kinds of violence.

This blog is a space for the voices of migrant women, a place where their stories can be told, connected with others, and collective demands for justice sought.

The women we work with have powerful voices. Now others must do the vital work of listening to them.

“We just want our voice to be heard. Whoever is listening to this, please, please, just listen carefully - listen with your heart. We are human beings, we are women as well, and I don’t think we deserve what we are going through.”

Listen below to two of our members speak about their experiences and demand their right to justice.