Refugee Law and the Feminist Dilemma

By the 1980s, feminist calls for shifts in refugee law to recognize women’s experiences of persecution had been articulated and shifted from a "male paradigm" to a more inclusive one. And indeed, the insights of second wave feminism and its criticism of the public/private divide have led to legal and social transformation. They promoted different reading of the situation of gender-related cases that made them relevant for refugee law. As a result of these developments, the personal became political and as such, reflected in the refugee definition. Gender is now on the tick box for refugee decision makers in all major receiving countries. But despite – or maybe because of – these victories, much of the feminist legal energy appears to have been sapped. There is a sense in many quarters that gender in refugee law ‘has been done’, and that the problem is now resolved. Legal inclusion has been achieved. This Paper argues that much like feminism was not finished once the public/private divide was overcome, refugee law has much to learn from third wave feminism with its emphasis on individuality and diversity – and its concern to avoid categorisations, simple dichotomies and false stereotypes. This is a challenge for refugee decision-making, which relies on complex categorical reasoning. The paper draws on concepts such as intersectionality and strategic essentialism to develop a feminist critique of refugee law.