Victim referral and assistance system and gaps therein in Southeastern Europe

The root causes of migration and vulnerability to trafficking include not only the weak economic situation of women but also discrimination against them in their countries of origin. Discrimination against women in the labour market, growing unemployment among women, lower wages, lack of skills and training  essentially, the feminisation of poverty – all these factors contribute to the growing number of young women willing to take their chances by searching for opportunities and a better life in the West.

Another factor is the changing pattern of family life with more single mothers taking responsibility for their children. More women are becoming the only breadwinner in families where the men have become unemployed and are not able to find a job as a result of the process of transition. A growing trend in the region is for women to take responsibility for the survival of the whole family and to look for new sources of income. For example, women run 80 percent of small businesses in Moldova and it is mainly women who engage in crossborder trade between Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey and sell their produce on the streets and in the markets of Bucharest, Sofia and Chisinau.