The pursuit of higher education and a career can be strenuous, particularly for individuals from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. For many refugee girls in Greece, classrooms often remain closed to them, making the pursuit of a career impossible. This is not due to a lack of educational resources or paperwork, but because of deep-rooted sexism. 

Formal schooling in Greece is compulsory for all 4-15 years old children including migrants and asylum-seekers, regardless of their immigration status; however, refugee girls tend to face additional barriers in their access to education. According to the UN Refugee Agency, globally, refugee girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school compared to refugee boys because most parents prioritise boys’ education over girls’ due to cultural norms. 

People are used to hearing stories of refugees’ hardships during their journeys of seeking asylum. So when they think of refugees resettled in a new country, they often imagine those who fled violence or war, and finally rebuild their lives and live happily ever after. But the truth is, for many refugee girls, the same challenges that they experienced in the past follow them across borders, and these struggles often come from within the families. 

‘The hidden borders that were never crossed’ 

To understand why these struggles exist, we must consider the cultural and political conditions of their home countries. Many girls were raised in conservative societies where the denial of girls’ access to education and workforce is normalised. In these societies, patriarchal beliefs reinforce traditional gender roles, and these restrictions often follow girls across borders. 

In 2015, a total of 235,000 refugees poured into Europe, with the majority originating from neighbouring Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Palestine. Due to the geopolitical location, political tensions, and the patriarchal dominant interpretations of the holy scriptures, these countries tend to be more conservative. Muslim women from these countries often face challenges such as limited access to education, restricted mobility, and being forced into the traditional gender role. 

In 2021, the Taliban banned Afghan girls above the sixth grade from attending school and university. This shocking cultural regression shows how easily the girls’ fates can be altered simply due to a powerful party’s unilateral interpretation of Islamic law. Moreover, girls also face the dangers of child marriage and teenage pregnancy as a confinement of sexual exploitation. In the Arab region, one in seven girls marries before the age of 185. And even before the latest political turmoil in Afghanistan, UNICEF estimates that 28 percent of Afghan women aged 15–49 years were married before the age of 186. 

Unfortunately, these harmful traditions are deeply entrenched in many people’s values and beliefs. They persist throughout the refugees’ 

asylum-seeking journey and even after resettling in a different country. The language barrier contributed to the failure of refugee girls’ integration into Greece. Due to persistent delays in opening language classes. Statistically speaking, refugee women even face more challenges in language learning, as the IAB research report shows that only 32 percent of women take part in language courses, as opposed to 41 percent of men in Germany, a country that is also facing the influx of refugees just like Greece. 

Under these circumstances, even girls who complete early education may still be forced into traditional gender roles at home. Instead of exploring career paths, their only option is to manage household tasks and childcare, leaving little to no room to pursue their own aspirations. Eventually, these challenges will accumulate, and inevitably result in the marginalisation of refugee women. Many end up unemployed, or in low-paid, low-skilled jobs, perpetuating poverty. The failure to secure access to education and employment ultimately perpetuates the cycle of poverty and inequality, thereby exacerbating the hardships experienced by the refugee women. 

‘Refugee girls deserve more than silence’ 

The oppression imposed by systemic and cultural obstacles become clearer when we consider the stories of individual girls. Soraya’s story illustrates both the dangers these girls confront and the empowerment that resilience can bring. 

Soraya is one of the Afghan women who fled from persecution and conflict to seek asylum in Greece. In an interview, Soraya explained that she believes the life-threatening voyages across the Aegean Sea to Greece were worth it, because she can now utilise the resources and opportunities to decide about her own future, and make a better future for her children in Greece, where gender-based discrimination and violence are not as prevalent. She also highlights that she is excited about life changing initiatives set up in Greece, such as community-led-women-friendly spaces. 

Yet even after surviving all this, they are still held back by sexism – carried across generations and reinforced by silence. 

These girls did not risk their lives to remain invisible. They crossed seas, camped in mountains, and endured squalid camps where they faced the constant threat of assault, trafficking, and violence. They deserve the chance to choose their own paths and break free from cycles of control and dehumanisation. 

Neither the government nor “we” should treat this as a “private family matter”. There exists an urgent need for the reform of tailored policies that focus on the legal protection of refugee women’s rights and community integration. Particularly, such policies can be implemented by ensuring that all refugee children of school age, regardless of gender, are enrolled to school, while opening Greek classes at school to promote language acquisition, encouraging the use of diversity quotas in higher educational institutions and companies’ hiring processes. On a smaller scale, the reformed policies directly impact the individual refugees themselves, ensuring children’s, especially refugee girls’ access to education and providing them an equal opportunity to pursue their future careers. 

Moreover, these initiatives empower refugee girls to challenge harmful gender norms by equipping them with essential knowledge and skills. On a larger scale, by enabling the immigrant populations to participate in the workforce with equal rights, Greece also benefits from social cohesion, mitigates income inequality, and lays the groundwork for sustainable economic development.

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