JOURNAL OF ETHNIC AND MIGRATION STUDIES 5 questions animate the next sections. In them, as we will demonstrate, women offer a complex range of reasons for and accounts of their migration, while staff fall back on familiar racialised and gendered tropes. Together, their testimonies illuminate the intersectional nature of migration and its control (Lewis 2013; Smith and Marmo 2011). Why women migrate Downloaded by [94.66.124.78] at 01:32 30 November 2017 You are obliged to work for your kids. We all do it for the kids. I talk to them and I realize I miss moments of their lives. I send them shoes and one day it was size 39 and now it is 41. You miss a lot. (Fieldnotes, February 2012; Georgian woman to an officer) All the women in this project explained their irregular entry into Greece as the result of their limited legal options. Unskilled and from the global south, they were unable to obtain permission to enter for the purpose of work or to reunite with their family members. In contrast, they could access smuggling networks without much difficulty. Those seeking protection, encountered an asylum system that, at the time of research, had an acceptance rate of 1% and was still processing applications submitted in 2006.10 In any case, the legal framework of the Greek system was of little interest to our research participants as few of those who entered clandestinely wished to remain in Greece. Like more recent arrivals today, most hoped to travel north towards family, friends and greater job opportunities. France, Germany, the U.K. and Scandinavia were their desired destinations. Greece was, for them, a transit country. The women who took part in the study came from seven countries: Nigeria, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq and Cape Verde. Two thirds had dependent children, all of whom had remained in their country of origin. The average respondent's age was 30 years old. Some had been in Greece for as long as three years while others had been arrested upon arrival a few days earlier. All had travelled as part of a group across the border even as other parts of the journey were undertaken alone. In explaining the cause of their irregular entry into Europe, the women's accounts varied by nationality. Those from Eritrea, Somalia, Cape Verde and Iraq described circumstances relating to war and political persecution, while Georgians sought economic opportunities. Nigerians and women from the Dominican Republic described political and complex social problems as motivating factors. While we make no claims that our sample is representative, these distinctions in the women's accounts offer a useful reminder of the heterogeneity of the migrant population; a factor that draws into question the unitary solution often inherent in muscular border control strategies. Wherever they were from, all the women mentioned gender violence and domestic responsibilities as factors that contributed to their decision to leave their place of birth. Those who had fled political violence had been threatened with or had experienced sexual violence before or after their departure. Most women from Africa and Iraq talked about the deaths of male family members; without a male head of household, they faced significant economic responsibilities in supporting their family especially their dependent children. In line with other research, all were in search of work (see, for example, Sassen 1999). Women from Somalia and Eritrea sought to escape ongoing conflict in their countries of origin. However, they too, had concerns related to their economic survival. Sarah explained: