1. The influence of neocolonialism, gender and social class in Latin American migrant women’s working conditions in Spain
Erica Briones Vozmediano, Faculty of Nursing and Phyisiotherapy, University of Lleida.
& Natalia Rivas Quarneti, Montserrat Gea Sánchez, Andreu Bover Bover, Mª Antonia Carbonero, Denise Gastaldo

2. Context

3. Immigrant population in Spain
10%
Source: Spanish National Statistical Institute

4. Immigrant population in Spain (2015)
Men
Women
Source: Spanish National Statistical Institute

5. Background
Immigrant women are a vulnerable group to suffer from explotation and abuse in the labour market
precarious employments
specially cleaning and caregiving (specially when they are 24h/7h workers)
Neo-colonial logics
Situate Latin American workers in a low social position in the host society
Naturalize Latin American immigrants as cleaners and/or caregivers in Spain

6. Antecedentes
“Domestic worker”

7. Antecedentes
“Domestic
worker”

8. The provision of intimate labour dominantly by immigrant women is related to the intersection of sexism, racialization, and migratory status
NEOCOLONIALISM
GENDER

9. Objective
To explore how gender, migration, ethnicity and social position influence Latin immigrant domestic workers’ working conditions and health in Spain

10. Methods Multi-site secondary qualitative analysis
4 Qualitative Projects
( )

11. Participants Personal interviews 95 women
Working as caregivers/cleaners
Age range years
11 Latinamerican countries
Living in Spain +2 years
in urban and rural contexts
Documented and indocumented
(Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Brasil, Uruguay, República Dominicana, Perú, Cuba, Venezuela)

12. FINDINGS

13. “They substitute the love of my family”
Findings 1
“They only want you for cleaning” 2
“They treate you as a slave” 3
“I feel pain, but I have to resist”
Experiences of abuse
Emotional health:
“Fractured families”
“They substitute the love of my family” 4

14. 1 2 3 Findings Women felt pain and exhausted
“most of us who came here are not, we were not working as caregivers, we were not, I mean prepared for this, right? because you think: "Well, I have capabilities for doing other things” - you can not imagine that you are migrating to clean houses or take care of elderly people or children-” 2
“it’s like “you have to be enslaved here, do what I say!” of course…, and because you are unemployed, without nothing here, ehh, well, and you have to accept it”
“I found job caring after a granny, but I was only able to resist 15 days working there… she wanted me to sleep in the same room and I couldn’t sleep at all” 3
“That work made me sick, I felt back pain, I couldn’t move my self… I should carry her from the bed to the bathroom, from the bathroom to the living room, I always have been thin [not strong] and I suffered a lot, but I had to resist because I traveled to Spain to work and give my children a better future”
Women felt pain and exhausted
Strategies of selfcare
The work of caregiver requires emotional implication
Women felt worried and sad for being abroad / having left their families in their countries of origin: Fractured families
Key moment: choosing to resist or to priorize their own health

15. CONCLUSIONS
Gender Migrant condition Ethnicity Abusive employment/ working conditions Discrimination Vulnerability
Physical health
Mental health
Wellbeing
Self care
Utilization of health services
Negatively influence
Migration (fractured families and isolation) + poor employment conditions (hierarchical personal relationships) = impact Latina workers’ mental health

16. Conclusions Intimate labour is naturalized for Latina women:
Domestic servitude (modern slavery)
Undervaluated and invisible work
These forms of discrimination have detrimental physical and psychosocial health consequences for immigrant women
Implication: The power of positive-healthy relations between employers and employees

17. Recommendations It is needed to:
Establish egalitarian personal relationships, not based on the inequality of power
Improve women’s employment and working conditions
To protect their health and quality of life

18. Recommendations How? Promoting healthy labour settings
Protecting labour rights
Public policies aimed to protect
migrants’ employment conditions
and health

19. erica.briones.voz@gmail.com erica.briones@dif.udl.cat
Thank you