Reintegration Policies and Gendered Return Migration

Return and reintegration policies have increased in prominence over the past two decades alongside migration governance. These policies commonly exclude the gender-specific needs of female returnees. This chapter examines the gender gap in return policies and uses a case study of Serbia to elucidate the consequences of return policies on female returnees. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews conducted within the Reintegrate project with 50 returnees (both male and female) and 37 key stakeholders in Serbia. The results show that, first, return and reintegration policies do not account for family migration and the gender-specific needs of women in their return. Second, women have gender-specific needs as return migrants, including support to deal with the lasting consequences of trauma experienced, support for economic independence, and their role as mothers. The analysis contributes to the gap in research on the gendered experiences of return migrants and the need for gender-sensitive migration governance.