To reference the author Chinua Achebe: “Until the lion tells its own story, the hunt will always glorify the hunter”
For a long time, the story of women migration has been prominently told through a narrow lens. When we speak of women from the “Global South” migrating irregularly, the conversation almost instantly shifts to “smuggling” or “trafficking.” While those risks are real, this focus often hides a much more powerful reality that women are active, intelligent agents who migrate to transform their lives and support their families.
Recent academic insights suggest that our current way of looking at migration is biased. We often view men as “economic migrants” seeking opportunity, while women are viewed as “victims” caught in a system. It is time to change that narrative and recognize women as the “alpha” figures and decision-makers they truly are. In this way, we are breaking the Chains of Patriarchy in many societies. where patriarchal traditions interpret men as those who hold the power and women as those who are usually excluded from inheritance or leadership, to limit a woman’s potential. In these settings, men are often expected to stay behind to “carry on the family name,” while women in some cultures find themselves with limited access to land, money, or education, some see migration as a tool for upward social mobility. It takes a brave heart to make a move when the doors at home are closed by tradition. It takes a brave heart to create own doors, choose to move and not just to escape, but to build a foundation for self-determination.
The alpha role of a migrant woman is about survival and success, you either move or be crushed!
Women as migrants are often the primary engines of survival for their families back home. They aren’t just “tagging along”, they are economic pillars by their remittances, strategic risk-takers by their ability to calculate the dangers of the journey against the “risk of staying” in poverty or oppression in their homeland.
For many, crossing the border is a hurdle to be cleared, and a feat that requires intelligence and strength. They are problem solvers navigating complex routes when legal channels are unfairly blocked by restrictive policies. These characteristics challenge the “victim” label on women migrants of African and Asian origin. The tendency to label all irregular female migration as “trafficking” does a disservice to women. It creates a negative social identity that ignores their bravery and skill.
We must stop obscuring the positive contributions of women migrants. They are no longer mere statistics in a trafficking report; they are pioneers.
By choosing to navigate high-tech surveillance and difficult borders and policies, they demonstrate a level of agency and “alpha” leadership that keeps entire communities afloat. Migration is, for many women, the ultimate act of self-determination. It is time the world acknowledged their strength, their intelligence, and their vital role in global development.
By: Bykefreeborn |X/Twitter: @bykefreeborn