Refugee Law, Gender and the Concept of Personhood

This article explores the interaction between gender and international refugee law. The author shows how gender has historically not been considered in assessing refugee claims and then demonstrates the evolution towards modern refugee law, which incorporates gender considerations. While generally supportive of this shift, the author argues that current approaches to assessing gender-based refugee claims fragment the identity of refugee claimants and separate a womans gender from other aspects of her personality, including race, nationality, and religious identity. This process can be alienating because it pits aspects of an asylum seekers personality against each other. Ultimately, the author argues for incorporating the concept of "personhood" into international refugee law. The author defines "personhood" as the idea that each individual is unique and is defined by more than just the superficial characteristics of their identity. It is argued that incorporating "personhood" into refugee law would allow asylum seekers to be evaluated in a way that incorporates the individual, context specific experiences of refugee women.