Refugee Women and the Imperative of Categories

This article provides a useful overview of some of the key issues facing women refugee claimants in Canada. The article refers to the Canadian Guidelines on Gender-Related Persecution to review the implications of establishing a specific category of gender within Canadian immigration law. Part I of the article examines the Guidelines in the context of Canadian and international law and assesses the potential benefits and limits of this policy. Part II incorporates specific fact patterns to demonstrate how these Guidelines may operate in practice. Part III reviews some of the main critiques against the Guidelines and Part IV consists of a more theoretical examination of dominant paradigms governing refugee and feminist discourses. [Descriptors: Migration - Refugees and Immigration, Canada]