Paper short abstract:

The research aims to analyse how being undocumented makes migrants vulnerable to GBV and structural inequalities in Durban and Cape Town and what refugee and asylum seeking assistance is available. Looking at the South African migrant system and how the mechanisms lead to being undocumented.

Paper long abstract:

Political, structural and migrant policy frameworks render undocumented migrant women vulnerable to GBV. This is contextually placed in the aftermath of 2008 through to 2019 xenophobic incidences that took place in Cape Town and Durban, South Africa. It is imperative to examine the role of migration processes in shaping the perceptions of migrant women in South Africa's experiences of GBV, and in turn survey the coping strategies pursued.This PhD study intends to research undocumented migrant women's intersecting vulnerabilities to GBV based on social determinants . The paper will argue that social determinant of migration are politically based looking at a critic of the global migration angst as a contributing factor.As such South African - Refugee Services Decision Officer's acceptance and denial of asylum claims based on gender related cases is subject to perceived notions of political versus personal factors. Global attention toon gender and migration has looked into women, wives or mothers not having the same legal asylum status as their spouse or children after denial of legal applications . The gap is academic inquiry of the perceptions of undocumented migrant women in South Africa speaking of their experiences and the coping strategies employed.