“Double Pain”: Sub-Saharan Women Meeting the Challenges of Migration while Migrating

  Mobility is a major socio-political and economic dynamism in the history of humanity. In the last few years, the migratory movement was characterized by the emergence of a new mobility dynamic led by sub-Saharan migrant women who are in transit situation in different countries before reaching their final destinations. These women who hoped that migration would better their life conditions find themselves disappointed because their gender and migration identities are intertwined. While it is true that this category of migrants take the risk to cross the borders ‘illegally’ to meet their objectives, they find themselves living in a double pain. They experience harsh situations while migrating that are characterized by the gendered inequalities and violent experiences. Based on a qualitative approach, the article uses irregular migrant women’s oral stories to explore difficulties migrants encounter during their journeys, especially on road before reaching the host country. The interviews used in this article are conducted in Oujda and Casablanca cities with irregular sub-Saharan migrant women who choose Morocco as a transit country and whose aim is to continue their journey to one of the European countries. The article is an eye opening to the experiences of sub-Saharan migrant women who escape different social, economic and political difficulties in their countries of origin to reach their final destination. However, this movement is not free from other obstacles that make their journey remarkable. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY GENDER STUDIES المجلة الدولية للدراسات الجندرية متعددة التخصصات: ميدوسا و الفكر المعاصر, Vol. 3 No. 1 (2022): Gendered Bodies on the Move : Re-understanding Women’s Migratory Experiences