Programmes of Assisted Voluntary Return or Assisted Voluntary Return together with Reintegration of migrants to their own country have been gaining growing importance in the shaping of policies on migration throughout the world. These programmes have been conceived as an alternative to forced removal of irregularly present aliens, but they also apply to regular migrants who have freely decided to return to their own country. The paper focuses on voluntary return of women migrant workers because of the intersectional discrimination which marks their status. The analysis of the condition of women migrant workers in the state of destination clarifies that they are victims of violence and discrimination which are rooted in several grounds of prohibited discrimination ranging from gender to migrant status, and from social class to religion. Both discriminatory phenomena urge women migrant workers to leave that state and to return to their own country. Against this scenario the international system of protection of human rights does not afford women migrant workers the needed protection. The system is based on a universal approach and lays down no provisions on intersectional discrimination against women migrant workers. Furthermore, the said system does not endow women with proper rights to protect them in their own country upon return. In light of these outcomes the paper argues that voluntary return does not promote women migrant workers’ empowerment, but is a disguised removal. Moreover, the poor safeguards that are provided for women migrant workers contribute to the lowering of the standards of protection of all workers.