• Reference: ED431C 2018/25
• Funding Agency: Galician Ministry of Education, Universities and Vocational Training, Xunta de Galicia
• Duration:  1 January 2019 – 31 December 2021
• Principal Investigator: Laura Oso Casas
• Other Researchers in the Project: 15

Funding Agency: Galician Vice-presidency and the Galician Ministry for the President, Public Administration and Justice. Cooperación Galega.

Duration: 2016-2017.

Coordinating Investigator: Belén Fernández Suárez

Th CEXEF, Centre for Gender and Feminist Studies of the Universidade da Coruña, in cooperation with ESF Engineers without Borders, developed this study funded by Cooperación Galega (Galician Development Aid Department).

This was a pilot research on “Community and social participation of women in the management of common goods (water). Comparative study between Honduras and Galicia”.

To conduct a pilot study on the role and social and community participation of women in the management of common resources such as water. This first study compared the realities of Honduran and Galician women in rural areas to assess their participation in the management and use of community resources through the water boards organised in specific areas. The power asymmetries that we can find in any society are transferred to the field of natural resource management.

In order to determine what could influence the participation of women, we considered several factors such as: the role of women in different societies, the norms that rule membership in decision-making bodies in the community, social norms (gender segregation in the public space, gender division of labour and general behavioural norms), the social perceptions of men and women in a community regarding the capacity of women to contribute to the common good and to the public sphere, the level of control of community structures by men, sociodemographic features (age, social status, education) [Agarwal, 2001].  The work of Eloísa Piñeiro on the participation of women in the community management of Common Forests in Valadares (Vigo, Galicia, Spain) showed that, apart from being underrepresented in the structures, women’s presence was characterised by lack of power within them (Piñeiro, 2013).

Our study explored this hypothesis and used qualitative methodologies. In order to do that, we conducted fieldwork around water management in rural communities in Galicia (mainly in the provinces of Pontevedra and Lugo), as well as in the municipalities of the NASMAR association in the Golf of Fonseca in Honduras. The research technique used was gathering information through qualitative semi-structured interviews with two types of profiles: a) key informants for relevant information regarding the situation of women and their participation in both areas (social agents, social and trade union leaders, women’s organisations, etc.) and women from those communities with different levels of participation in community organisations.  To develop this study, we contacted academic and social bodies working in the same field in Galicia and Honduras. Part of the pilot research objectives were to create transnational academic and social networks for future academic collaboration.

Research Team:

– Rosa Cobo Bedia

– Antía Pérez Caramés

–  Carmen Castro García

– Francisco Javier Sánchez Lombardero

– Andrea Souto García

– Sandra López Pereiro

Funding Agency: Xunta de Galicia

Duration: 1 January 2014 – 31 December 2017

Principal Investigator: Laura Oso Casas

Other Researchers in the Project: 15

Funding Agency: Directorate General of Foreign Relations and the EU, Xunta de Galicia.

Duration: 2014 – 2015.

Funded by: Spanish Ministry for Employment and Social Security.

Duration: 2012 – 2013.

This report on the 2012 labour market and migration compared the most important labour variables of the migrant population living in Spain with the Spanish population. The data in this report refers to the years 2011 and 2012.

Funding Agency: Spanish Ministry for the Economy and Competition.

Duration: 2011 – 2014.

The general objective of this research project was to study the transnational strategies and social mobility trajectories of migrant families in Spain. We studied how family strategies of social mobility are negotiated in the household by analysing the actions that individuals choose to implement to climb up the social ladder, as well as a set of personal and collective itineraries that they develop along the social hierarchy in the transnational social space. All this was analysed from an intergenerational and gender perspective. What is the impact of the transnational economic and social strategies of migrants on their social mobility trajectories? And on those of their children? What are the gender differences? Are there any transnational strategies that may mean social stagnations for some members of the household and social mobility opportunities for others?

The hypothesis we explored was that households adopt social mobility strategies that include decisions relative to (financial, physical, human, social) capital investment that do not always mean progress or benefit for all members of the household alike. In fact, the efforts to pool certain types of (physical) capital may mean a drawback for other types of (human, social) capital and vice-versa. Besides, they do not lead to similar social mobility trajectories for all family members.

The theoretical background to accomplish our objective was the existing literature on gender, migration and transnationalism, social mobility and second-generation studies. We applied comparative methodologies using data triangulation techniques (documental analysis, statistical source analysis, in-depth interviews and family life histories) and data analysis (multivariant quantitative analysis and categorical theme discourse analysis).

The qualitative field work took place mainly in Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia and Galicia, although in-depth interviews and life history processes were conducted in some of the countries of origin (Ecuador, Morocco and Argentina/Brazil).

Funding Agency: Spanish Development Aid Agency (AECID).

Duration: 2011 – 2013.

The general objective of this project was to analyse and assess existing education policies and their impact on migrant children and youth from the Atlantic region and the interior Moroccan plains to Spain. Furthermore, the study included an analysis of the educational intervention strategies with migrant children of different Spanish regions: Andalucía, Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia.

The results of this study aimed at reviewing the educational intervention strategies in both countries considering the specific regions in the study and the places of origin of the unaccompanied migrant minors (UMM) in each of the above-mentioned regions.

Assessing these policies and their impact, both in migrants from Morocco, as well as in the subsequent internal migrations of minors within Spain, has helped shed more light on the problems of early migration that should allow for the development of guidelines for future cooperation projects between Morocco and Spain in the field of education.

Likewise, the study also emphasized the need to evaluate and review the training and educational policies linked to repatriation and pushback policies.   All this from an integrated perspective that aimed at improving the situation of the most vulnerable children in Morocco and Spain.

Funding Agency: Spanish Ministry for the Economy and Competition.

Duration: 2011 – 2014.

Provision 7 of Act 52/2007 (Memoria Histórica Act) refers to the children and grandchildren of Spanish migrants and Spaniards in exile. It offers them their nationality of origin without having to give up the previous one. Over 300,000 descendants of Spanish migrants have applied for Spanish nationality since the law was approved on 29 December 2008, and the final figures are expected to be around half a million in December 2011. This project investigated the reasons to apply for nationality and the migratory or sedentary plans of the nationalised. Its goal was to identify the conditions and factors that affect the applicant’s decision and to reconstruct the logic that guides them and the reasons behind their actions. Age, gender and country of origin lead to different expectations regarding this migratory opportunity that translates into different life strategies. The migratory opportunity is not restricted to Spain, as it includes the whole EU.

The five research objectives are: to describe the sociodemographic profile of the children and grandchildren and the traces that distinguish each of the three types of applicants (economic migration, political exile and recovery of identity or change of nationality of choice for that of origin) that correspond to Annex I, II and II of the application form; to quantify the prevalence of the three types of options in terms of their migratory and sedentary potential according to generation, gender and country of birth; to establish the connections and discrepancies between the type of application and the underlying cause for migration of their ancestors and the conditions and factors explaining the asymmetries and coincidences; to verify the gender differences in the motivation of the application and the decision to migrate or remain in the country of origin (this hypothesis was supported by the clash between the possibilities that migration gave the applicant’s grandmothers in terms of gender equality and the legal discrimination of the grandmothers in the LMH Law); to identify the differences between Spaniards produced by the LMH and their migratory and voting behaviour and that of their ancestors; to show how European citizenship and the modification of the Electoral Act affects their decisions.

These tasks were performed using two types of primary information sources (survey) for objectives 1 and 2 and in-depth interviews and focus group discussions for tasks 3, 4 and 5. They were later cross-checked with the information supplied by three secondary sources (MAEX, CERA and PERE management files).

Funded by: Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation.

Period: 2010 – 2011.

The global objective of this project was to analyse the features of voluntary returned migration processes of foreign immigrants in Spain. The research methodology combined accessing statistical sources and ethnographic field work. We analysed the situation of migrants in Spain who were considering returning to their countries of origin and migrants who had already returned to their countries.

The study was conducted in the most relevant origin/destination of migratory flows in Spain in the last decade. We selected the provinces where the largest communities of foreign migrants lived, as well as the nationalities with more weight in terms of the migratory intensity reached. These regions and countries in Spain are Catalonia, Madrid and Valencia; the nationalities and countries chosen are Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia in America, Morocco in Africa and Romania in Europe.

Apart from the large numbers, these countries’ cultural diversity was an added element of interest (similarities/differences in language, religion, political regime) and the different legal status that Latin American migrants have in Spain and that of those coming from the new EU countries.

In a first phase, interviews were conducted in the provinces of Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. The second phase took place in the five countries of origin of recent immigrants in Spain, as already mentioned.

Funding Agency: Galician General Secretary for Equality.

Duration: 2010 – 2011.

An aging population, changes in the socio-professional experiences of women and a decrease in the social networks supporting care in the family all become challenges for social protection mechanisms. They also show how the delivery of personal care has changed in households to strive for a better work-life balance. After the approval of the Spanish Law to Promote Personal Autonomy and Care for Dependent People (Dependency Act), the institutional response to long-term care needs has mainly been transferring money to families. However, despite this development in social policies, the most usual option for families is hiring a domestic worker as carer, encouraged by the availability of funds. The presence of domestic workers modifies the organisation of care in the family, but it does not lead to a more gender and age balanced tasks allocation. The care sector within domestic work has become the most important market niche for foreigners after the increased arrival of the migrant population, especially undocumented women. Likewise, this often becomes the only option to privatise care in the family due to the low costs of this option when compared to other more professionalized choices (for example, private companies).

The goal of this project was to analyse the repercussion of the new social protection measures within the scope of the Dependency Act, and how they are modifying the structure of care in families. In particular, this study analysed the new patterns of care introduced by this law (benefits and expansion of social services) and how they lead to modifications in the position of women within their family structure of care and how they result in the privatisation of domestic work.

Funding Agency: Spanish Development Aid Agency (AECID).

Duration: 2008 – 2009.

Funding Agency: AECID. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Aid.

Duration: 2008.

Funding Agency: Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.

Duration: 2007 – 2010.

Funding Agency: Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.

Duration: 2005 – 2007.

Funding Agency: Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.

Duration: 2005 – 2007.

Funding Agency: Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, Tinker Foundation (EEUU), Fundación PME/Metropolis (The Foundation for Population, Migration and Environment -Zurich, Switzerland-) and the International Metropolis Project.

Duration: 2005 – 2009.

Funded by: the European Social Fund (75%), Universidade da Coruña (25%).

Duration: 2005 – 2007.