Migrant women encounter discrimination and exclusion in many forms. Their experiences are often shaped by multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination related to socially ascribed characteristics and social positions, including gender, migration status, ethnicity, religion, health, class, and sexual orientation.

Discrimination can take institutional shape in the form of unequal access to education, healthcare, fair employment, housing, public services and precarious residencies in strict migration regimes. A striking continuity across different historical periods and migration contexts is the high proportion of migrant women in informal, low-paid, or otherwise precarious forms of work. Whether employed in domestic labour, caregiving, agriculture, hospitality, or other sectors, women have often carried out essential work while having limited access to labour protections, making them particularly vulnerable to exploitation and even violence by  employers and agencies.

Even when not working in precarious jobs, many migrant women face barriers in accessing jobs that match their skills or receiving equal pay for their work.

Discrimination is also felt in everyday interactions: in dismissive remarks, paternalistic treatment, stereotyping, exclusion, and forms of dehumanisation that can become part of daily life.

Yet the women whose stories are shared here are not defined by vulnerability alone. They describe a wide range of strategies for navigating and challenging unequal conditions: moving forward and finding ways to reduce their own vulnerability, speaking out against unfair treatment, and resisting exclusion through small acts of everyday defiance. Some became involved in collective initiatives and political movements advocating for equal rights, fair working conditions, and greater social recognition. Their experiences reveal not simply the realities of discrimination, but the many ways women confront it and exercise agency.