Motherhood in the Context of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation - Studies on Nigerian and Romanian Women

This book discusses motherhood of Nigerian and Romanian women in Italy and Romania, who are human trafficking victims for sexual purposes. It provides a broad gender approach to emerge on the phenomenon of human trafficking with an analytic perspective of all the social, cultural, legal and economic components that play an important role during all phases of motherhood. The book compares the motherhood of these two nationalities within a context of an illegal/legal status in the European territory. It reflects on the used terms of vulnerability, sexual exploitation, victim, resistance and resilience. This book enlightens scholars and students with a broad perspective on this complex phenomenon, understanding the intersectionality of the victims' features and its relation with the  several push and pull factors that lead a human trafficking victim into vulnerability, resistance and resilience.

Rafaela Pascoal is a Research Fellow in the Department of Culture and Societies at the University of Palermo. Rafaela finished her PhD at the University of Palermo with the thesis 'The vulnerability of Nigerian and Romanian women in sexual exploitation. Motherhood as a double vulnerability.' She is also one of the Cofounders of the International Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Human Rights She has published several articles on the subject of Human Trafficking, Migration and Gender in Romanian, Portuguese and American Journals, as well as four book chapters. She has also presented several conferences in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Romania, Lithuania and Italy. Besides her work as an Academic, Rafaela has also worked seven years on the implementation of several transnational projects on the issue of migration and human trafficking.