4.2 Non-communitarian immigrant women in the work market in spain  (Page 8/18)

Although from all that is commented above, the figure of the female immigrant who arrives in Spain through family regrouping is not the most representative, if it corresponds with the practices of some groups in particular. To follow the husband in his migratory project is habitual among Moroccan and African women of rural origin, many of them without studies and labor experience in the origin country, or among African or Pakistani women. These groups present very inferior levels of occupation to those of the rest of the female immigrants (CCOO – CERES 2004). During the 80’s and 70’s, many Moroccan women have arrived to Spain through the family regrouping process, as a second phase of the independent masculine emigration. Often, this project tries to reproduce the model of existing family organization in the society of origin – control of the man over the migratory project and the right to remunerated work of the woman, circumscribed to the domestic scope – which enormously isolates these women and makes their integration difficult. It is not possible to continue reproducing the same functions they had in their country, since they are out of context in the receiving society, and are strictly reduced to their husband and children. In addition, these women often lose the networks of feminine support that wrapped them in the origin country (Ribas 2004).

In spite of it, in some occasions, the lack of income forces the husband to vary his attitudes and allow his wife to work, which confers greater doses of economic, linguistic, and social autonomy, as well as of self-esteem and security in themselves, considering the difficulties and the reduced range of labor opportunities to which they have access. The African woman of rural origin doubly participates in the construction of inequalities and social exclusion. Added to that are the economic and legal dependency of their husband, in many cases, their illiteracy, linguistic limitations, as well as the lack of abilities and skills to accede to the labor world, the courses of occupational formation or to organize the conciliation between the family and labor life (some of them have many children here) (Exposito 2004). The external domestic service constitutes its only labor opportunity, and the only job that allows them to take care of the house and the children. The access to the domestic service is not easy to them. The lack of contacts in the receiving society is added to the discrimination on behalf of the homes, which often see an impediment at the time of hiring a Muslim woman, for their religion and language, especially when it is about caretaking tasks.

For the case of the sub-Sahara African women, the flows that arrive in Spain since the 80’s – Senegal, Gambia, and Equatorial Guinea as main origins – have the fact that the majority has come with their husbands as a common factor. The family reunification consists in that the man, after about two years of emigrating, returns to his country and marries, or either was already married when emigrating and decides to bring his wife to Spain. Many of who are married do not work outside the home. Those that do are used as domestic workers, or in bars, hairdressing salons, or manage business, self or co-owned. Many married women, who are statistically inactive, dedicate themselves to sell African products in their homes, or carry out hairdressing salon services at home. Just like with Moroccan families, the necessity of money is what often impels the domestic group to decide on the strategy of women working outside the home and contribute complementary income (Sole 1994).