Luis Camarero

¿Por qué se van las mujeres? El continuum de movilidad como hipótesis explicativa de la masculinización rural (Why Are Women Leaving? The Mobility Continuum as an Explanation of Rural Masculinization Process)

In Spain, the masculinization of rural towns and villages is an endemic process. In order to enquire into the reasons for this, an analysis is made of the evolution of different cohorts of people born in rural towns and their migratory behaviour using different variables: their level of education, work situation and mobility practices, particularly in relation to labour markets. This analysis makes a comparison between the region of Castile and Leon, where the phenomenon is the most intense, and the Autonomous Region of Valencia, where masculinization appears to be much more reduced. The conclusions seem to

Foreigners, Neighbours, Immigrants: Translocal Mobilities in Rural Areas in Spain

This chapter analyses the role of rural areas in processes of international immigration in Spain. It focuses on the interrelations between geographical and social (occupational) mobility of migrants to these areas. The analysis is based on data from the National Immigrant Survey in 2007, the first to offer representative information at the national level on the residential and occupational trajectories of foreign residents in Spain. Foreign residents in rural areas have different kinds of mobility and these types of mobility convert some foreigners into “new neighbours” and others into “immigrants.” The ethnic stratification of the labour market which operates with respect to immigrants also forms part of the social production of mobilities. The data support the findings of previous studies in that they show the subsidiary role of agriculture and rural areas in the employment and residential strategies of immigrants. In addition to local employment opportunities, family migration patterns also seem to play an important role in these new residents settling in rural areas.

Rural sustainability, inter-generational support and mobility

The issue of the resilience of rural areas has again emerged as a result of the economic recession, particularly in the countries of Southern Europe, which have been especially hard hit by cuts in the provision of services. In this paper we focus on the Spanish case to explore the role that mobility plays in the central age groups of the age pyramid in rural sustainability. Based on the results obtained from a representative survey of the population and in-depth interviews carried out between 2008 and 2012, we show how demographic composition and mobility strategies are two central factors in considering the future of rural areas. Their medium and long-term effects have been considered separately, but in this article, their inter-relationship is analysed in the context of the sustainability of Spanish rurality. The conclusions point to the dual effect of mobility: on the one hand, it regulates the actual subsistence of rural populations to the point of making them highly dependent on cars; on the other hand, it transmits social inequalities in the social structure, such as those related to gender.

Exploring Female Over-Migration in Rural Spain — Employment, Care Giving and Mobility

Demographic imbalances between men and women have long existed in rural areas. The masculinisation of rural areas caused by the differences in migration behaviour between men and women is a phenomenon that is rooted in the migration from country to city during the industrial revolution (Tilly and Scott 1989) which persists today. Research on the causes of this differential migration has grown in recent years, along with increasing concern over its effects on rural development and the social sustainability of rural areas. Hoggart (2004) has suggested the importance of rethinking rural development policies as they have not been able to halt the exodus of women.