Care, Gender and Migration in the South of Europe. Connecting the Welfare Regimes, Gender Relations and Migration Policies in Spain

GIL ARAUJO, SANDRA

Montreal

Workshop; Workshop Gender, Care and Migrations. Europe-Canada Compared,; 2012

Universidad de Montreal

During the last 20 years, Mediterranean Europe ?traditionally an emitter of population- has become a receptor zone for immigration. The migratory phenomenon in the South of Europe has developed in the context of a segmented labor market and an extensive informal economy. Irregular jobs are very common in this informal economy and a large part of the migrants enter into it. Another characteristics of the migration towards Southern Europe, compared to other regions of the EU, is its feminization, which refers to the role of women as initiators of the migration project and as the first link of the migration chain. On this regard, in the Spanish case it is very important to consider the key impact that the receiving context has had on the direction and composition of these flows. Several researches have shown the importance of care work as a main sector of labor insertion for migrant women, mainly during first years of immigration. This paper aims to analyze the connection between the Spanish ?family? welfare regime, the migration policy, the ?foreignisation? of the care work sector, and the feminization process of migration towards Spain, as well as the implications in terms of inequalities based on gender, class, legal status and nationality.