The Conduit
  • OUR HOME
  • WHAT’S ON
  • NEWS & INSPIRATION
    • NEWS
    • PODCAST
  • HOST AN EVENT
  • WORKSPACE
  • EXPLORE MEMBERSHIP
  • LOGIN
  • Menu Menu
Female Refugee Integration:
Barriers to Employment with DLA Piper
July 20, 2022/Employment & Economic Opportunity, Featured, Insights

Female Refugee Integration: Barriers to Employment with DLA Piper

July 20, 2022/Employment & Economic Opportunity, Featured, Insights
Finding a job in your new country of origin has shown to have huge effects on successful refugee integration. As a woman, accessing the labour market as a refugee is even more challenging, despite the fact that many studies prove that employing refugees will have a positive effect on the national economy, driving investment and growth. To mark Refugee Week in the UK The Conduit, in collaboration with our Impact Partner, DLA Piper, convened a vivid conversation chaired expertly by Marina Brizar, UK Director for Talent Beyond Boundaries. Marina was joined by Dr Awmaima Amrayaf, pro bono legal officer at DLA Piper, Renae Mannis, Executive Director of Services at the Refugee Council, and Steve Duffy Head of Client Recruitment at RefuAid.

Words:

Rosie Fletcher

When an individual becomes displaced from their own country, not only do they lose their home and the life that they know, they also lose their jobs, their careers and all they have spent years working towards. Arriving in a new country means starting from scratch, a blank page that you need to learn to write on. This is made particularly difficult when you also face the obstacles of being female. Host countries are not doing enough to help integrate women into the labour market, but there are organisations and initiatives emerging who are starting to develop the conversation and ignite some change. Companies such as DLA Piper, are paving the way, developing programmes and systems that are making huge strides in assisting female refugees.

Elegant and charismatic, Dr Awmaima Amrayaf shared with the audience at The Conduit her own battles with overcoming the barriers to employment that she faced in the UK after being forced to leave her home in Libya. The event also marked the launch of a new report for DLA Piper on ‘Barriers to economic integration faced by refugee women’, with a particular focus on the exacerbating challenges that female refugees face post the Covid pandemic. The report includes personal testimonies from 15 female refugees in OECD countries. Awmaima described how difficult it is when, as a woman, there is a sheer lack of tailored support and little consideration of what it means to be displaced. The report shows that each individual has different circumstances that need to be accommodated for, and yet the system is not remotely sensitive to this. There are structural barriers and there is chronic under funding in the field, not to mention issues of cultural differences, intersectional discrimination,exploitation, and a lack of early measures to help women refugees integrate.

Policy, practice and values – three essential components to providing sustainable support for refugee women. Renae Mannis, Executive Director of Services at the Refugee Council, was forceful in her view that corporates need to make a long term commitment to ringfence roles for refugee women. Organisations have to consider cultural differences and be willing to provide the right networks, mentors and training that will ensure each individual is adequately supported through the intricate processes of the labour market. These women are highly skilled, highly ambitious individuals, but there needs to be an acknowledgement that displacement means you are not starting on the same footing as the rest of the field. Yet it does not mean that you don’t have potential. Skills are universal. What we need is an increased awareness and a flexibility on requirements. Let’s welcome cultural differences and embed them into our working values!

Increasing understanding amongst businesses is crucial, which DLA Piper’s new report goes a long way to doing. The report is backed up by the company’s own programmes. Their remote professional mentoring programme, Women in Law for Women Refugees (WLfWR) helps to boost the confidence of women, giving them the chance to be

navigate the labour market with additional support. Their legal education programme “ Know your Rights” seeks to empower asylum seekers and refugees be giving them the knowledge and skills that they need in order to pursue meaningful careers and feel empowered to advocate for themselves. It also fosters integration and individualism. Spearheaded by Awmaima it is a programme for refugees, led by refugees.

There are other organisations creating change, such as Talent Beyond Boundaries, RefuAid and the Refugee Council, that are showing us all how we can incorporate new policies within our own systems. It’s important to remember that female refugees are not a burden, they are a benefit. They can provide fresh sources of inspiration and creativity, nurture a hopeful and positive culture and bring new skills and expertise to the table. This is an ongoing discussion, and it was wonderful to find such an engaged audience at The Conduit, willing to help spread the message. Collaboration is key and by coming together to create connections and start new conversations we can begin to break down the barriers that female refugees face in the labour market and really generate lasting and positive change.

You’ll find the full panel discussion on The Conduit’s YouTube channel here.

Share This Article 

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Other Articles You Might Like

Deforestation Halt: People Power in the Congo Basin

Past Events, Insights, Climate & Sustainability
In 2023, halting tropical deforestation is the world’s most cost-effective and scalable climate action. But getting it right isn’t simple. The Conduit presents an evening with climate organisation Cool Earth and special guests Go Conscious Earth featuring inspirational talks from people who have witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by those who live in the rainforest and what they are doing to overcome them. Our time to listen and act is now.
Read more
September 25, 2023
https://www.theconduit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/congo-basin-event.jpg 991 1500 Programme Team https://www.theconduit.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/TheConduit_MasterLogo.svg Programme Team2023-09-25 08:11:582023-09-26 09:10:49Deforestation Halt: People Power in the Congo Basin

Point of Care Around the World: Antipolo’s Barangay Health Workers

Health & Wellbeing, Insights, Featured
The Conduit’s “Point of Care Around the World” series was created in collaboration with the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation, which catalyses efforts to respond to the human resource crisis in global health and build a thriving workforce.
Read more
September 22, 2023
https://www.theconduit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Barangay-Health-Worker-1.jpg 1071 1600 Programme Team https://www.theconduit.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/TheConduit_MasterLogo.svg Programme Team2023-09-22 11:10:292023-09-22 11:19:05Point of Care Around the World: Antipolo’s Barangay Health Workers

How We Gave Control of Our Lives to Corporations, States and AIs

Economic Empowerment, Past Events, Insights
We are terrified of how AI will transform the world. But our world is already ruled by supremely powerful artificial entities that may yet destroy us: states and corporations.
Read more
September 6, 2023
https://www.theconduit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/david-runciman-2-709x400-c.jpg 400 700 Programme Team https://www.theconduit.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/TheConduit_MasterLogo.svg Programme Team2023-09-06 10:00:312023-09-07 09:52:58How We Gave Control of Our Lives to Corporations, States and AIs

Sign Up To Our Newsletter

For all the latest news and offers about The Conduit!

Sign Up To Our Newsletter

For all the latest news and offers about The Conduit!

CONTACT US

6 Langley St

London WC2H 9JA

membership@theconduit.com

(+44) 02039128400

OPENING TIMES

Monday to Wednesday

7am-11pm

Thursday & Friday

7am-12am

Saturday

10am – 1am

Sunday

Closed

Information

About Us

Community Values

House Rules

Partnerships

Impact Review

Careers

Press

Membership Terms & Conditions

Modern Slavery Statement

Privacy Notice

Cookie Policy 

 

 

 

Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept settings

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Accept settingsHide notification only