Challenges of Migrant and Refugee Women in Local Integration Processes: Case of Venezuela And Colombia "Welcome All"

This paper examines why local integration processes differ between men and women from a gender perspective. The challenges that migrant and refugee women face in accessing rights and benefits are different due to the prevalence of traditional gender norms and the discrimination of power structures. How gender is defined and conceived has shaped migration patterns, the conditions during the mobilisation and the later circumstances in the host countries. Women migrants and refugees assume burdens related to sexist notions and ideas about their role in the world, and they are excluded from most of the social, cultural, political and economic spheres necessary for the process of recovery, adaptation and integration in the new contexts. This study used qualitative and quantitative research based on a case study of refugee and migrant Venezuelan women in Colombia, where was applied regressions with linear and probabilistic methods to determine the relationships and causalities between selected variables of the essential conditions to achieve local integration. The results of the exercise evidenced that even when existing equality in legal guarantees for refugees and migrant populations, there is a gap between the processes of local integration between men and women. The empirical data concluded that refugees and migrant women faced more challenges and limited access to opportunities.


Introduction
Traditionally, it was affirmed that the main reason for women's migration is the submissive role within family structures as wives, mothers, and daughters (Pillinger, 2007). However, in the last decades, many scholars agree with the notion of the "feminisation of migration," arguing that the migrant women population has increased to look for better living conditions, employment, and education, among others. Nowadays, the number of women migrants is the same as that of men. Women are not moving only for marriage conditions but also because they become the primary economic support of their families. Although this change gave more independence to women, it was not a complete victory in women's struggle for equality in the patriarchal system. Unfortunately, it is still possible to identify in the migration patterns (before, during, and after the mobilisation) gender gaps that discriminate and affect women's rights. As a result, women continue falling behind and being vulnerable to exploitation and violence (Pillinger, 2007). This led to the topic of this paper, where I discuss one part of the correlation between gender and local integration, focusing on the research question: why local integration processes are different for women and men? As a reference, the local integration process of women refugees and migrants from Venezuela in Colombia from 2018 to 2021. To respond to this question, the paper contains qualitative and quantitative information.
At this point, it is necessary to mention that a wide range of interdisciplinary analyses and literature exists about local integration, women, and migration. Therefore, It was challenging to delimit the literature sources and considering the little word, this paper does not cover a complete analysis of the panorama, but it remarks on the topic's most important ideas and elements considering that there is little literature about the experiences of local integration and migration of women inside Latino America.
The qualitative sources reinforce the theoretical perspective of the topic, and the quantitative data support the single case of study. The paper refers to the most known and agreed-on definition of local integration and its main elements. Additionally, develop the implications of the gender conceptions and practices in connection with local integration, and the theoretical perspectives are linked with the case of the study. This case was chosen for two reasons: Currently, the displacement of Venezuelans is one of the most significant humanitarian crises in the world, and on the other hand, Colombia is one of the few countries that has implemented an open and flexible migration policy to welcome migrants.
The main finding of the research is that there is a gap between the local integration processes between men and women. The paper argues that the existence of legal norms for the reception and protection of migrants and refugee women in the host countries is not enough to guarantee their agency and access to resources to achieve local integration. Daily, migrant and refugee women face situations and practices that limit and undermine their autonomy, leaving them in highly vulnerable conditions. The paper is divided into four chapters. The first part reviews the literature about the meaning of local integration and the most critical conditions or elements. Next, the outcomes and features of women's experiences in local integration processes are developed. The third part exposes the case study data of Venezuelan migration in Colombia, emphasising women's conditions. Finally, the fourth chapter concludes with the most important ideas and facts.

Local Integration
Local integration has been recognised as a durable solution since the beginning of the refugee regime (UNHCR, 1950). It offers permanent asylum and complete integration in all systems (economic, political, social, and cultural) in the host country. It means that people should have full rights, including the recognition of their residency and citizenship (Jacobsen, 2021). Therefore, they could participate and be integrated into all activities as a person born in that country.
However, there is extensive literature from different branches of study: law, sociology, economy, and demography, describing what consists of "local integration." Based on the ideas of Polzer (2009), local integration is a social and political process of negotiations under a system of powers and interests between the refugees and the actors present in the host country that can happen in the medium or long term. This process is not entirely dependent on a legal or institutional framework because it is based on the agency and capacity of the parties to negotiate a trade of profits between them. For that reason, the needs of refugees are determined by the facts and conditions of the context and resources more than by a set of rules and institutional guidelines. Castles, Korac, Vasta & Vertovec (2002) describe integration as a process given in a double way and multilevel dimensions. With this, the authors refer to integration as an interchange between all people: the displaced population and the hosting one, who coexist and have the will of adapted to changes under the same conditions and rights. At the same time, migrants and refugees conserved their identities and socio-cultural practices even when they represented a small group of society. This definition has a vision founded on plenty of guarantees of rights and conditions for all parts. Silver (2015) indicates that social inclusion may refer to a process of interconnection and interactions between people that improve the opportunities to participate in different dimensions of public life and strengthen the integration, solidarity, cohesion, and recognition as "us." These factors reinforce the affirmation that local integration is a concept that not only needs to be understood, analysed, and tackled from joint and interdisciplinary perspectives but also as a process where the agency and capabilities of people play a decisive role, considering the diversity in gender, ethnicity, culture and even their autonomy.
The last essential point to consider in the definition of local integration is the construction around the idea of "community." As Castles, Korac, Vasta & Vertovec (2002) mentioned, the essential part of the integration process is creating solid communities even when there are differences in cosmovision and social practices among people. This aspect is essential for talk of real inclusion because belonging and affinity to a community are more complex notions that implicate social dynamics, relationships, and the recognition of others, which are concepts closer to the idea of social inclusion.

Women and Local Integration
In general, women migrate as much as men. In 2020 were 281 million migrants worldwide, and 48% of this population were women (McAuliffe & Triandafyllidou, 2022). However, women's rights recognition and inclusion continue to challenge social and political practices. The framework of international laws continues to have an androcentric approach to protection, identification of vulnerabilities, and response mechanisms. An example of this is the Refugee Convention of 1951 since was not include specific categories related to human rights violations and other affectations based on gender issues. After hard work led by feminist activists in 1979 with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, rights became more visible. Also, in 1990 gender-specific and gender-related persecution began to be part of the international framework of refugee status determination (Smith, 2016).
Although the proportion of women and men migrants is equal, they migrate for different reasons and conditions. As explained by Lee (1966), one of the factors that one person takes into account to decide to migrate is personal issues. In this sense, some people do not choose to leave their country of origin alone but are motivated by life cycle elements. This is observed in the family relationship, where children travel with their parents and wives with their husbands.
In this way, Bredtmann & Otten (2013) highlight the importance of the relationship between the cultural background of migrant women and the roles that they assume. This research suggests that women's labour supply and integration depend on the host country's economic, cultural, and social conditions and the beliefs and preferences that shape the social roles in migrant families and communities. These factors define notions such as parenting, couple and family relationships. Similarly, Manchanda (2004) argues that culture and traditions are constantly transforming, especially in critical situations such as displacements where gender roles could blur because of the changes.
As a result, the migration process is shaped by gender ideologies and vice versa. How the family structure conceived the norms of relationships and gender roles influences women's migration conditions and motivations (Pessar, 2005). For instance, in most migrations of communities with a noticeable patriarchal system, the roles of gender are reinforced, and practices as the control and prohibitions increased. On the contrary, in other situations, migrations can be an exit from a traditional, restricted and rigid system of believers, and women can seek productivity, autonomy, and freedom (Pessar, 2005). A third possible scenario during migration is when men leave behind women and children; the women are obligated to acquire new roles, for example, being the suppliers of the household, generating more income than before, and at the same time looking after the dependent members of the family. Therefore, the women's burden rises, and they are obligated to enrol in jobs or activities with precarious conditions in terms of salary and labour rights and are more vulnerable to being harassed.
Additionally, Pittaway & Bartolomei (2001) mention that during migrations and in the host countries, women are exposed to being doubly discriminated against and "othering." Firstly, in some countries, the migrants are seen with lesser value and as competitors and adversaries because of a threat to the culture, identity, and economic system. One of the most common situations is the labour market, where some migrants are willing to accept jobs with fewer salaries than locals and without guarantees and demands. Secondly, in patriarchal social structures, women are discriminated against by gender and seen as weak and second-class. As a result, they are private of rights and profits. This discrimination is visible when women are limited to participating in activities related to domestic work, the sexual industry, or informal sellers. Also, they have difficulties accessing services and attention from State institutions in health services, reproductive rights, education, and law protection in cases of being victims of rape, exploitation, and sexual abuse, among others.
Race, caste, and ethnicity also trigger discrimination, xenophobia, and discrimination, particularly in countries with profoundly different cultural, religious, and economic backgrounds. In the specific case of Colombia and Venezuela, the populations share similar costumes, traditions, and histories. Therefore, discrimination for race or caste does not become prevalent. However, despite the social affinities between the two countries, xenophobia, discrimination, and marginalisation have been evident in the local integration process and even in the discourse of shared citizenship and local politicians.
As a result of how gender is delimited and conceived, women face many challenges in the local integration process. The process is much slower, narrow, and more restricted than men.
Consequently, the power relationships are unequal, as seen in their daily living conditions and needs. Moreover, they must try to obtain resources for their survival and, on many occasions, for their children and other dependent family members (Collins & Daly, 2021). Some effect of this is that women have fewer well-being conditions than men and have fewer opportunities for decent employment. In addition, participation in the training process is also limited by their roles allocated in the household, taking care of the children and elder people (Koyama, 2015). In this sense, traditional gender norms have contributed to the genderisation of jobs. It means that jobs, where most women migrants work are considered unskilled and casual. These occupations have the lowest salaries and conditions, and the most common is domestic/private jobs as cleaners, housekeepers, and caring for older people and children (Piper, 2005). Traditionally, caring work has been considered a women job because it is a continuity of their occupations and role in the household (Sales, 2007). Therefore, women have a work burden trying to fulfil the responsibilities with their jobs and dependants, including partners in matters of alimentations, laundry, and so on.
The conditions that refugee and migrant women face in the integration processes generate significant challenges that cause women to have more difficulties achieving favourable conditions for their well-being. Constructing protective and inclusive environments where women can count on tools that allow them to make decisions free of risk factors, social pressures, rejection, and pointing out are indispensable for real integration.

Methodology
It should be noted that the sources of information on the migrant population in countries such as Colombia are scarce. However, it is possible to have official sources of information that show a general panorama of the needs of the migrant population. The Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares (GEIH) is a survey that provides "information on people's employment conditions, sex, age, marital status, and educational level and sources of income at the national and municipal.
However, the territorial scope of the survey is limited because it is impossible to have data from the 1,099 municipalities of Colombia. Therefore, the module of the migration data of people arriving in Colombia has limited information, especially in the municipalities located on the border with Venezuela due to the permeable borders and the absence of immigration control. However, the data used allows for a reliable statistical approximation at the national level.
The GEIH universe comprises the non-institutional civil population residing in private households. It also excludes households that do not remain in residences or those in transit to other places. Therefore, the unit of analysis, in the case of the GEIH and this study, focuses mainly on people. For the corresponding sample size analysis, the primary expansion factor applied to the sample data, in this case of people, is taken as a reference and gives each sample element the weight or representation corresponding to it in the investigated universe.
Regarding the migration module of the GEIH, this allows information to be obtained from migrant groups or profiles of the Venezuelan population with a vocation to stay, Colombian returnees, and the host community. Nevertheless, the survey records do not allow for knowing about migrant profiles such as the pendulum population at the borders, people in transit to other national or international destinations, and homeless people. This is due to the survey's focus and its collection methods being by telephone, which excludes another type of population that does not have the means to access or record their data.
Due to the large number of data obtained from the GEIH, it was necessary to use programming languages to process the databases. In this case, Stata worked with databases like this and processed many observations. Likewise, the operations carried out the linear and probabilistic regressions, facilitating information and analysis.
For the analysis of the data using Stata, the last month for each year was selected from the databases, that is, the month of December, taking as a reference from 2018 to 2021, to make the respective annual comparisons and, in this way obtain the variations between what was 2018 and 2021. The selection of the year 2018 is crucial because it was the accelerated beginning of the migratory phenomenon of the Venezuelan population to Colombia, compared to the year 2021, which is the last year that registers complete annual figures and where it began a process of migratory stabilisation at least understood from the numbers of migrants who came to Colombia, especially after having experienced exponential growth.
As the study focuses on the migrant population, it was necessary to glue the bases between the GEIH and the migration module, which, being complete, allows data to be obtained from those groups of migrants who belong to the classification of persons with Venezuelan nationality-just highlighting that they are of the vocation of permanence.
In this paper, regressions are carried out, applying linear and probabilistic methods from the data obtained from the GEIH to determine the relationships and causalities between the selected variables. For this, it was necessary to make the respective binary classification for some of these and thus determine what type of population to classify or compare. It is essential to highlight that, for the regressions, those statistically significant variables must not exceed (p-value= 0.050). After that value, the relationships between variables may not have substantial differences or are not statistically relevant. The employment variables, for example, are determined by whether they have a verbal or written employment contract, without this implying knowing if this was a formal or informal job. Their classification is done binary, where one is that they have a contract, and 2 is that they do not. The income variable, being a continuous variable, was considered if it was reported by the respondents who mentioned having income and what they did not earn. For variables with more response options, grouping them by response options was necessary.

Colombian Case
Historically Colombia and Venezuela have had a solid dynamic economic and cultural exchange. More than 2.219 km of land border connects both countries (Cancilleria de Colombia, 2022) in different regions. Along this border, there are seven formal points of the migration authorities. However, it is a fact that there are also hundreds of irregular pathways that illegal groups use for human, drug, arms trafficking, and other illicit activities and economies (World Bank, 2018). Therefore, the border between Colombia and Venezuela is highly permeable; taking into account the geographic features and the capacity of the State, the control of government institutions over the territory is complex and challenging.
In 2017, the government issued the first temporary permission (Permiso Especial de Permanencia -PEP) to regularise Venezuelan migratory status and allow them access to employment and social protection system, but only for those who enter Colombia legally through mobile points and with a passport. However, more and more migrants arrived in Colombia under unprotected, vulnerable conditions and irregular status. Therefore, in 2020, the Colombian government released the last regularisation document for Venezuelans named Temporal Status of Protection (TSP). This new certificate extended the conditions regarding time and benefits for people. Hence, people can access this permission until 2023 only with a national identity card (the passport is unnecessary) and could stay in Colombia for ten years with the right to do any legal activity or occupation, access to education and health services In this sense, the execution of the TSP has a double purpose. Firstly, the objective is to regularise all Venezuelans to secure their economic contributions by paying different taxes. Also, it is essential to have an entire panorama with feasible data about how many Venezuelans there are in the country and their conditions to design and implement public policies oriented to manage issues related to integration, security, and legal processes (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, 2020). Secondly, the TSP is an act that represents the disposition of the Colombian government with the international treaties signed and the commitment to the guarantee of human rights (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, 2020).
Considering the migratory actions adopted by the Colombian government, these policies can be seen as measures of local solution. Local solutions are defined as complementary actions facilitating the transition to local integration as a durable solution. These measures are temporal and allow refugees to participate mainly in the host country's economic, social, and cultural aspects, including obtaining permits for residency and inclusion in the formal labour market for some time (United Nations, 2018). The objective of local solutions is to allow vulnerable displaced populations to be empowered and promote their self-reliance and agency. At the same time, the process of total inclusion moves forward. In this sense, local solutions could include a range of rights related to livelihoods and social protection services (education, health, financial options, contractual services such as housing, internet, among others) but not with the guarantee of political and civil rights which are granted just under citizenship recognition.
The following graph provides information about the main reasons Venezuelan people have migrated in the last year and allows make some assumptions about gender and migration in the present study case: The first finding in this data is that two main reasons supported the decision to migrate for women and men: Accompanying family members and working in first and second place, respectively. Nevertheless, the gap between the first and the second reason in women and men is notable. In this sense, even when both populations migrated for the same reasons, women migrated more than men for familiar reunification. The most recent data on the conformation of Venezuelan households is from 2019, where 41% of men indicated being the head of their home compared to 17% of women. Besides, 38% of women identified themselves as partners or wives; to the contrary men, only 8% indicated being the partner of someone (DANE, 2021). This information suggests that traditional gender rules are an essential factor in the migration pattern of Venezuelan people to Colombia. Notably, the significance of men as heads of households is noticeable in the family structure.

Employment
From May 2021 until May 2022, 2.331.440 registers were made in the database of the Colombian government to access TSP. 48% of registers belong to men and 52% to women. Of the women inscribed during this time, 68% were between 18 and 59 years old, which means a productivity age. This register consolidates irregular people, people who already had permission to stay in Colombia, and asylum seekers (Migración Colombia, 2022).

Graph 4. Number of Venezuelans that worked with contract (verbal or written) 2018 -2021
Source: DANE -GEIH (2018, 2019, 2020 As seen in the previous graphs, despite most of the women population having permission to work and being in a productivity age, during the last four years, they were less involved in working activities or employment which generates any remuneration. Graph three shows the difference between Venezuelan women and men at the moment to access employment under contract conditions. The gap has remained during the last few years, which means that women are exposed to unfair labour conditions where they are vulnerable to exploitation, receiving meagre salaries, not having access to labour rights, and being part of the protection system of the State.

Graph 5. Number of Venezuelans by salary range 2018-2021
Exchange rate 4.167COP=1USD Basic salary in Colombia = 268 USD Source: DANE -GEIH (2018, 2019, 2020 This graph illustrates the remarkable difference between the incomes of women and men. In some salary ranges, the number of men who earn money is double that of women. Also, as the salary increases, the participation of women decreases except in 2018 and 2019, where it can be seen that in the third salary band, the number of women with salaries was significantly higher than the men. However, in the following years, the participation of women decreased widely. There is limited evidence for knowing the causes. Still, considering the country's context, it is possible to assume that this decline was due to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the labour market. However, it is evident the disadvantage of women over men. Another essential point is that in some salary bands, the number of women is cero.

Health Services Graph 6. Number of Venezuelan affiliated with some health institutions 2018 -2021
Source: DANE -GEIH (2018, 2019, 2020 In the variable about access to medical services, the percentages between men and women are similar for affiliation and not affiliation. However, the Venezuelan population without access to services is an essential factor in the local integration process. Even though the Colombian government has facilitated access to health services, an essential number of Venezuelans are not affiliated with the social protection system of the State. This is due to the informal labour market, the irregular status, and the lack of knowledge about the affiliation process (DANE, 2021). In 2021, the affiliation of men to the contributive regime (obligatory in formal job contracts) for the social protection system was 15% more than women, which suggests that men had more access to formal employment (DANE, 2021).

Education
According to the chart, in the last years, most migrants and refugees from Venezuela to Colombia are population groups with primary and secondary education levels, both women and men. Additionally, most men and women reached secondary school as their highest educational level. However, as shown in the graphs above, the gap is evident in access to employment with fair conditions and better wages.
On the other hand, the percentage of women from Venezuela with technical and professional levels of education is superior to that of men. Consequently, they are more qualified to enrol in employment with specialised requirements. Despite this, there is a barrier to validating professional degrees because the process in Colombia is extensive and detailed to avoid false degrees and ensure educative standards (Ministerio de Educación Nacional, 2022). Regarding the access to education of adults, the data found are general. Until July 2021, 2.76% of the Yes total enrolled students in educative institutions were between 17 -21 years old, and 1.53% were people more aged than 25 years old (GIFMM, RV4, 2021).

Housing Graph 8. Type of housing of Venezuelan households
Source: DANE -GEIH (2018, 2019, 2020 From 2018 to 2021, the type of housing more common for the Venezuelan population has been renting. The distribution between men and women is similar in this category. The second type of housing is under usufructuary agreements when the tenants do not pay. In this case, women have lived more in this type of housing than men. Also, in the category "de facto occupant," women have meaningful participation, indicating their living conditions' vulnerability. The information in this category makes it possible to deduce that the risk of

Results and Discussion
This section aims to analyse the main elements of the local integration process in Colombia, making probabilistic and linear regressions between the variables more meaningful and pertinent for the paper's discussion. This allows for identifying the probability that a series of characteristics belong to a given group compared to another. Therefore, they are handy for understanding what causalities can affect a population and discussing some assumptions about the conditions of women refugees and migrants Venezuelan in Colombia and their participation in local integration. The previous relationship might point out that regardless of the educational level women have reached (basic, intermediate, or higher), they are 41% more unemployed than men with the same academic levels. However, there is no significant variation to assume that the education level of women and men generates a gap between both population groups regarding an activity such as looking for a job. In this sense, the data suggest that women have fewer opportunities and more challenges than men in access to employment.
In general, one of the most critical factors for local integration is the inclusion and participation of refugees and migrants in the economic market. This facilitates the possibility of having incomes to supply their needs and interact with the host country's population in other spaces of society. Nevertheless, for the integration of women, access to employment is even more critical because it allows them to be self-reliant and autonomous and have the tools to break traditional power structures.
The access of women to economic sources has positive effects in different aspects. They acquire a more relevant position within the households that positively influences genderrelated norms. They can support and promote the development of capabilities and human capital in the young generations living with their children, cousins, nephews, nieces, and siblings. In addition, the participation of women in the economy and the processes of growth help to improve the distribution of resources and the generation of development in a country (Kabeer, 2021). The table would seem to indicate that women (regardless of their educational level) are at home doing domestic and care work 41% more than men. It is a situation that puts a stigma on women because regardless of whether they have a level of study or not, they will find themselves carrying out household activities. In addition, it might be assumed that the marginalisation of Venezuelan women has a background in their origin country, as can see in the level of education of this population, the role of women inside the familiar structures, the domestic work, the childcare, and the dependency on their partners. The sociocultural patterns of gender-based roles end up being one of the most critical barriers to the local integration of women (Kainat, Eskola & Widén, 2022). These patterns have a basis in the social institutions where economic, cultural, social, and political behaviours are defined. These behaviours are crucial for how others see women, their participation in power relationships, and the possibility of having agency (Ritchie, 2018).
The fact that women do more care and domestic work than men make local integration difficult for women. "There is no country in the world where men spend equal time on unpaid work as women do. 1 " For example, the mental burden, the burden of housework, and childcare prevent women from accessing employment. This unpaid work can be related to the lack of education opportunities. Subsequently, the lack of technical capabilities and labour experience influences the possibility of employment with fair conditions and the capabilities to be economically independent.
In addition, women heads of households or those engaged in domestic work have more significant difficulties participating in training or education programs due to their responsibilities with housework and restrictions on their free time. As a result, there is an essential tendency for men to participate in these spaces as beneficiaries before women (Kabeer, 2021). The previous results suggest that women earn less income by 18% compared to Venezuelan men. However, their educational level had no significant differences, even if women had higher education levels. According to the definition by Polzer (2009) about the local integration processes, in the Colombian case, it might be thought that the local integration of Venezuelan women is slower than that of men. It may be because women's ability to negotiate seems to be reduced by how gender is perceived in society and the power systems. Even when women have tools such as education or training in specific activities, their disadvantaged position can be reflected in situations like working without any formal contract or receiving less salary can be very common.
On the other side, in light of the perspectives of Bredtmann & Otten (2013), the results suggest that in the cultural system and social norms in Venezuela, the role of the man as the supplier and the woman as the one in charge of raising and caring for the children is still dominant. Additionally, this could promote dependency relationships between women and men and, in turn, situations of violence and other manifestations of patriarchal culture. This approach could be complemented with data, for example, the violence based on the gender of Venezuelan women in Colombia. Between 2018 and 2021, the violence based on gender against Venezuelan women increased by 71%. Also, 80.95% of these cases were violent domestic situations generated by women's partners (Amnesty International, 2022).
Another essential point from the above results is that it could be supposed that gender roles also affect the salaries and the type of jobs that women can access. The genderisation of the activities and employment promotes the marginalisation of the women population because most work for women is related to activities that do not need specialised knowledge (Sales, 2007). Therefore, women are relegated to activities that are not highly valued and are related to domestic work, cleaning, or sexual services. The difference between the salaries of both populations might increase the dependency on men and their control over resources (CARE, 2020). Additionally, it could increase the risk and vulnerability in situations of labour exploitation, health effects due to sexual contact diseases, domestic and public violence due to being exposed to more significant risks due to work that implies their permanence on the street, and the risk of being victims of human trafficking or smuggling. The data would seem to indicate that women are 5% more likely to leave Venezuela to accompany other family members than men. As explained by Lee (1966), it could be thought that women decided to migrate due to motivations related to the family's meaning and their role as wives and mothers rather than for entirely personal reasons.
Moreover, the data suggest that the chances of having a verbal or written contract to work for women are 10% less likely than for men. However, the chances of having some verbal or written contract increase by 12% for women with a higher education level. As well as the difference between the salaries of Venezuelan men and women, the lack of contracts at the time of carrying out an activity that generates some income or benefits could be considered a way of discrimination against women in their participation in the labour market (Pittaway & Bartolomei, 2001). The bias decreased access to protection social systems and health or pension funds.
Even though the previous results could indicate a broad relationship between the realities faced by migrant and refugee women from Venezuela in Colombia and the literature that supports the argument of this paper, it is considered that there is a lack of information in the follow-up of the local integration process of women. This gap can be identified in the absence of data from a gender perspective due to the lack of information on the specific conditions and situations that women must deal with in the process of local integration. In this sense, it is essential to highlight that migrant and refugee women are not a homogeneous group (Bloch, 2004). Their life stories and decisions are influenced by different factors such as the causes of their mobilisation or displacement, their educational levels, age, social class, the family structure to which they belong, their economic activity, and other norms and beliefs that define their skills and abilities to face a local integration process in a new and unknown country.
This research contributes to understanding the migration process with a gender approach, particularly emphasising women's situation. It might be considered for the policy design, implementation, and evaluation debate during local integration processes. Moreover, it can help to understand the recent experience of women's migration inside the Latino-American continent.
The limitation of this research is that it is based on secondary qualitative and quantitative data. Therefore the feasibility and precision of data are not dependent on the researcher. At this point, it is essential to mention that the only source of quantitative data for the study case is a national survey done by the Colombian government. The specific literature about the local integration process of Venezuelan women in Colombia is little and uses the same survey as a quantitative source. Therefore, no more data is available to compare or complement the different variables and the survey's limitations.

Conclusion
This paper has presented the main arguments for why local integration processes differ between men and women. Considering the most widely accepted definition in the literature and practice as a starting point, a parallel has been established between different gender perspectives and their implications for developing a local integration process for women. In this way, it has been shown that traditional gender norms can shape local integration processes, often based on a patriarchal system and distribution of power and resources where women have been violated, discriminated against, and marginalised.
The results of the previous exercise also have evidence that even when existing legal protection, guarantees, and coverage for refugees and migrant populations, there is a gap between the processes of local integration between men and women. The empirical data concluded that refugees and migrant women faced more challenges than men in achieving local integration. This finding was supported after first comparing the most important elements of local integration between men and women and later statistical regressions of the most significant variables of the first exercise.
The prevalence of patterns reinforces social practices such as exclusion and inequity that cause lag and disparities in local integration processes. In all variables associated with the main elements of the local integration process, the data related to the women population have shown the disadvantages in participation, benefits, and conditions compared with men. In other words, "the durable solutions are gendered in terms of access, experiences, and implications." Considering local integration as a unique and generalised process (without a gender approach) could promote and repeat structural violence and marginalisation, especially under patriarchal structures (Fiddian-Qasmiye, 2014).
Local integration processes are narrow and restricted for women because the permanence of power systems based on patriarchy generates conditions that categorise women, limit them and restrict their capacities. This, in turn, causes inequality and a lack of recognition, and women continue to live under vulnerabilities and risks that threaten their well-being and dignity. In this sense, women have fewer opportunities to access employment, even with academic education. Additionally, women are more exposed to working under unfavourable conditions such as reduced wages and lack of employment contracts, which makes it challenging to access welfare systems such as the right to a pension, affiliation to health services, and the probability of being evicted. Of their homes due to a lack of income.
In line with what Liebig, T. & K. Tronstad (2018) and Tastsoglou, E. (2005) mention, the participation of refugees and migrants women in all areas of society, especially in the labour market, is decisive because they are the first responders in transferring experiences to children and in providing better conditions so that these future generations can have satisfactory integration processes where states of vulnerability can be overcome. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct future research on the effects of local integration of women and the effects on the conditions of their dependents (children and older people in the short, medium, and long term). Likewise, it is considered essential to approach the study of local integration processes in women in a more profound and more specific way, which takes into account all the challenges of women at an individual and social level, to have detailed tools for rethinking local integration policies with a gender perspective and not with generalised measures.