Celebrate 5 Years with Us And Be Part of the Next Chapter!
This year, we celebrate five years of amplifying migrant, diaspora, and minoritised women’s voices. Help us keep their stories alive and their voices heard!
Five Years of Migrant Women Press — Let’s Keep Going!
It has been a long journey to get here. What started as a blog in 2020 has become an independent media organisation and social enterprise that publishes stories and provides media opportunities for hundreds of women from over 30 countries.
However, keeping this unique space in the media for migrant and diverse women comes with significant challenges, and your support is more crucial than ever.
The media industry faces many issues. In the UK, where our organisation is based, some of them are concentrated ownership, lack of pluralism, and scarce financial support, which makes it difficult for organisations like ours to operate in a sustainable way. Limited resources and overwhelming workloads also negatively impact our ability to produce good quality journalism and support women in this industry.
We often hear about independent media outlets doing remarkable work yet being forced to close, making us question how we can keep going.
For Migrant Women Press, the priority now is to generate revenue and become a sustainable independent media organisation—one that builds a strong team and pays women fairly, producing impactful journalism. However, sustaining this work in a fast-changing and competitive media landscape shaped by capitalism and post-colonial structures is a constant struggle.
We are strengthening our foundation by developing a clear strategy and applying for grants. However, this isn’t enough, and we can’t do it alone. Sustaining and growing this work requires collaboration, shared resources, and a supportive community.
We invite you to be part of this milestone—five years of hard work, journalism by and for migrant women, and resilience. More importantly, we ask you to join the Migrant Women Press community to help keep this work going.
This month, we will share key initiatives to support our mission. We need your help to amplify the work we are doing.
Follow our updates to learn how you can celebrate, support, and take action as we mark five years.
Stand with us to amplify migrant and diverse women’s voices!
Juliana da Penha
Founding Editor and Director
🗣 MWP updates
We kicked off the year with insightful discussions in our first two articles:
How the Portuguese far-right thrives off the voices of Brazilian immigrants
We launched a new special series investigating how the far right's advance affects immigration through the lens of migrant women. The first article was published in collaboration with Aborda.pt, Portugal’s first feminist journalism platform, uncovers a paradox: Brazilian immigrants, despite being targets of nationalist rhetoric, played a key role in the far-right party Chega's electoral success.
“It consumes your life”: Single Mother Migrant Workers in The UK’s Health and Social Care Workforce Separated from Their Children
In collaboration with Women of Zimbabwe and Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), we are shedding light on the challenges faced by migrant women single mothers working in the UK’s health and social care sector. As highlighted in a recent report by these organisations, in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, many are trapped by visa denials, repeated rejections, and mounting financial pressures.
📣 Migrant Women Press Special Issue – Coming Soon!
Following our 16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, we are launching a special print edition featuring all the published articles. Stay tuned—more details on how to get your copy are coming soon!
🗞 Deep dive into our curated selection of the latest news on migration, gender, and race 🗞
What Immigrant Communities Should Know About Their Rights
All immigrants in the U.S. have rights, including the right to remain silent when interacting with federal immigration agents. Borderless has created a crucial resource to help immigrant communities understand their protections and how to respond in such encounters.
Documented: What It’s Like to Work Inside the Shelters
As 25 city-run asylum seeker shelters prepare to close by the end of February in New York, a humanitarian worker shares firsthand experiences of the daily challenges and small victories within these spaces.
The New York Times: Undocumented Women Ask: Will My Unborn Child Be a Citizen?
Undocumented women in the U.S. are facing uncertainty and fear as they await the birth of their children amid Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. Despite legal challenges and pending lawsuits, many expectant mothers worry about how the policy could impact their children’s status and future.
BBC: 'A living hell': Sudanese women face rape and abuse in Libya
Sudanese women fleeing conflict in their home country face extreme violence, exploitation, and abuse in Libya. Many, like Layla, escape with their families in search of safety but instead find themselves trapped in dangerous conditions, vulnerable to trafficking, sexual violence, and inhumane treatment.
Palabra.:The Deep Roots of Deportation
As deportation threats intensify in a divided political climate, many immigrants face deep uncertainty about their future. The growing tension raises concerns about whether the pursuit of a better life is still within reach.
📷 Photo of the month
📣 Call for Pitches/Applications/Submissions
Unbias the News, a feminist cross-border newsroom, is inviting pitches on the following topics: Migration (Europe-focused, but open to all) and environment (global).
Deadline: February 9th.
Black Ballad, a membership creating media, events and community for Black women, is accepting pitches from Black women, Black transwomen and Black non-binary people at all stages of their careers.
Pass The Mic, a national programme to tackle the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of women of colour in media and influence in Scotland has open applications for its year programme “Women of Colour Writers Group”.
Deadline: 25th February 2025
The Other Side Of Hope, the UK’s first ever literary magazine of sanctuary
journeys in refugee & immigrant literature is open for submissions.Femlens, a non-profit that empowers women and girls from diverse backgrounds by teaching them documentary photography, is calling for Submissions for this International Women’s Day when they are celebrating the power of sisterhood and solidarity. More info here
🎧🎞📚MWP Selection
🎧Daughters of Diaspora – Two African-Muslim sisters share their experiences growing up in the West as daughters of immigrant parents. Tune in for honest conversations on identity, culture, and life in the diaspora.
🎞 Swimmers tells the true story of Syrian sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini, who flee their war-torn home in Damascus as asylum seekers and endure the rough Mediterranean waters, swimming for hours to reach Greece before Yusra goes on to compete in the Rio Olympic Games.
📚Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novel exploring race, identity, and immigration through the journey of Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman navigating life in the U.S. and the UK.
✨ Spotlight✨
Muslim Girl shed light on the Palestinian women hostages released from Israeli prisons, emphasizing that, despite media silence, their names and stories matter.
Over 90 Palestinian hostages were released from Israeli prisons in the first phase of the ceasefire. Among them were teenagers and children.
✨ This month's quote✨
Shakira's message as she accepts the award for Best Latin Pop Album at the 2025 Grammy
Support a migrant women-led independent media. Help Migrant Women Press amplify migrant women's voices and redefine migration narratives in the media.
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