Sexism even affects claims for asylum

I never have claimed the majority of asylum-seekers are families but Mr Bishop's question raises a pertinent issue about the lack of protection for women refugees.

The Home Office statistic he misquotes says 80 per cent of asylum-seekers making claims in the UK are men arriving with no dependents.

This does not mean they do not have partners and children abroad. So, why are a large proportion of asylum-seekers male?

This partly results from the practice in conflicts of targeting the young men of fighting age in the "enemy" population but mainly follows from the worldwide phenomenon of sexism.

In most societies, men have greater access to the money, passports and influence needed to escape, although this does not make their asylum claims groundless.

When Western governments make it harder to seek asylum through increased restrictions, that impacts much more greatly on women refugees, who are less likely to be able to buy their way through the visa system.

When women do reach the UK, the Home Office adds further obstacles to their gaining protection. The Home Office clings to an outdated view which holds that a political refugee must have held a membership card and have been arrested at a political meeting before escaping to our shores.

Other states, such as Canada, woke up long ago to the fact that women in refugee-producing countries often manifest political ideas through community work and individual gestures of defiance, such as flouting dress codes or resisting male violence.

They often suffer in different ways, for instance through rape or domestic violence rather than formal imprisonment.

The UNHCR and groups such as the Refugee Women's Rights Project feel the way forward lies with education of judges and Home Office officials and the adoption of firm guidelines.

Mr Bishop seems to think waving hostile placards in our streets will protect refugee women. I know which approach I prefer.

-Paul Ward, P J Ward, Solicitors, Marlborough Place, Brighton