Exploring the Local Dynamics of Gendered Borders in Asylum Governance: Evidence from Brussels and Barcelona

This paper examines the intersection of gender and migration at the local level of asylum governance, focusing on the politics of gendered borders within civil society organizations (CSOs) and public officers. By gendered borders, we aim to study the interaction between asylum and migration with sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). Using a comparative case study of Brussels and Barcelona -two contexts marked by cultural diversity, strong migration flows, and active gender-equality networks- the paper investigates how professionals working in CSOs interpret and navigate gendered, sexual, and national boundaries in asylum-related work. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with a constructivist and abductive approach (Charmaz 2006), this study explores how practitioners negotiate gendered borders in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity and asylum and migration. It pays particular attention to how professionals conceptualize vulnerability, legitimacy, and “authenticity” as well as the asylum and migration public policies (Lewis 2014; Tschalaer 2020; Greatrick 2023), revealing how these logics reproduce or resist gendered and racialized hierarchies. Our central research question is: How do asylum and SOGI related practitioners navigate the politics of gendered borders in Brussels and Barcelona? The analysis contributes to debates on gendered governance and queer migration (Murray 2016; El-Tayeb 2012; Boussalem 2023; Coll-Planas et al. 2021) by showing how practitioners mediate asylum and migration and SOGI policy frameworks through professional practices. By comparing Brussels and Barcelona, the study highlights how local governance, CSO’s cultures, and intersectional inequalities shape the governance of asylum. It argues that practitioners do not only implement policy but also produce situated forms of epistemic resistance (Siraj 2016; Peumans & Stallaert 2016) and bordering practices that reconfigure notions of belonging and protection. The paper advances empirical and theoretical understandings of how gendered borders are constructed, contested, and lived in local asylum governance.