Selective Gendered Regime of Deportation: The Historical Deportation of Women During the White Australia Policy Era

This chapter discusses the Australian selective gendered regime of deportation. Australian immigration policies and practices have been tools to introduce and re-enforce patriarchal/gender order. This chapter, through a review of historical gendered deportation cases from 1901 to 1970s, seeks to explore the ways in which women have been scrutinised and expelled by institutions of the state, according to the emerging needs of the host nation. This chapter bases this discussion on archival cases that allows for a wide-ranging lens to consider multiple cases of deportation and to identify emerging patterns. The result of the analysis indicates that, through a selective process of inclusion and exclusion of female deportees, forced exit is not applied consistently, adding to the precariousness of the migrant woman, due to hierarchies and priorities decided by the State. Non-citizen women were assessed for deportation not just according to their loyalty, utility and function in the broader society, but also through the category of ‘spousal association’, which had an impact on how their health, political affiliation and/or ‘status’ as deportee’s wife or de facto was evaluated. While there are some similarities to male deportation, women’s deportation is somewhat influenced by spousal association. Hence, there are some relevant differences in the way the deportation regime applied to women, compared to men.