Nermin K Ahmad
NFBPWC Women on the Move Committee Chair By: Nermin K. Ahmad 

Women on the Move, while an NFBPWC initiative, has been gaining traction through work with the Civil Society Committee on Migration at the UN, and elsewhere.  Its goals remain robust: to develop a means where women, who move for work, as migrants, through their own agency, involuntarily or under duress have access to a network of resources that allow them to become established in their new location. 

Women who move need very different support networks than do traditional males on the move – it is often the woman who responsible for establishing herself, her family, her children in schools, and the routine in a new home, while the husband goes to work. Having to do all of this, as well as work, can be mitigated for business and professional women through a network of BPWs who understand the local area, and can help them rapidly become a functioning, working entity. 

The Afghan guidebook helped a number of women asylees find their professional feet more rapidly and solidly than their peers, without access to NFBPWC. The Women on the Move concept takes this a step further – relying on our network in 115 countries, we can assist women who are traveling for work or moving nationally or overseas with a preexisting network.  

In January 2024, I was asked as one of 5 civil society delegates invited to do so, to give a key speech at the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Geneva, where I launched a discussion on the meaning of migrants, on changing the narrative about working women migrants especially, and about understanding unconscious bias vis a vis migration. 

In March 2024 during CSW67 I was asked to speak on Human Trafficking, the need to change the discourse, and the need to realize that trafficked humans were neither a commodity nor willing migrants.  

I have interviewed numerous Women on the Move, both business and professional, at different levels of success, to understand what held them back the most when arriving in a new city. Responses ranged from access to lived information on schools, self-care services, decent mechanics and workers, good restaurants and food stores, as well as local hierarchies politically and economically.  They felt it took longer than it should to decode the information that could help them succeed. 

The language is changing for migrants who are increasingly considered as people on the move. It has also become clear that there is a false narrative on migrants – for example the largest number of illegal migrants in Mexico are Americans who retire there, do not register, and are unwilling to pay taxes (so they leave for a day every 3 months). This also holds true for Europeans, Americans and Asians in Africa, where many jobs thus are lost to qualified locals. It is important for a business and/or professional woman to establish herself rapidly as a functioning, trusted and successful entity, without being held back by the narrative of other people..