Migrant Women’s Organizations and Structures of Opportunity for Sociopolitical Development: A Qualitative Study
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Objectives. To examine how grassroots organizations of migrant women can serve as opportunity structures that foster their sociopolitical development in contexts of labor precariousness and social exclusion. Method. A qualitative study was conducted in Andalusia, Spain, with eleven activists from the Domestic Workers’ Association of Seville and eight professionals from related social organizations. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed through goal-oriented content analysis. Results. The analysis identified four types of opportunity structures: relational, which promotes solidarity ties and collective identity; cognitive, which provides access to a rights-based discourse; inspirational, which highlights female leadership as models of empowerment; and mobilizing, which supports collective action and the creation of organizational alliances. Conclusion. Migrant women’s organizations are key spaces for empowerment, sociopolitical participation, and social justice, broadening the scope of sociopolitical development beyond the educational field.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Aceros, J. C., Duque, T., & Paloma, V. (2021). Psychosocial benefits and costs of activism among female migrant domestic workers in Southern Spain. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(7), 2905-2921. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22610
Aceros, J. C., Duque, T., & Paloma, V. (2023). El activismo en las migrantes trabajadoras del hogar: Estudio cualitativo en el sur de España. Estudios Fronterizos, 24. https://doi.org/10.21670/ref.2305116
Ayalon, L., & Green, O. (2015). Live-in versus live-out home care in Israel: Satisfaction with services and caregivers’ outcomes. Gerontologist, 55(4), 628-642. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnt122
Ayalon, L., & Shiovitz-Ezra, S. (2010). The experience of loneliness among live-in Filipino homecare workers in Israel: Implications for social workers. British Journal of Social Work, 40(8), 2538-2559. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcq050
Bañales, J., Aldana, A., Richards‐Schuster, K., Flanagan, C. A., Diemer, M. A., & Rowley, S. J. (2021). Youth anti‐racism action: Contributions of youth perceptions of school racial messages and critical consciousness. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(8), 3079-3100. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22266
Case, A. D., & Hunter, C. D. (2012). Counterspaces: A Unit of Analysis for Understanding the Role of Settings in Marginalized Individuals’ Adaptive Responses to Oppression. American Journal of Community Psychology, 50(1-2), 257-270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-012-9497-7
Conner, J. O. (2011). Youth organizers as young adults: Their commitments and contributions. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(4), 923-942. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00766.x
Denzongpa, K., & Nichols, T. (2020). We Can’t Step Back: Women Specially…A Narrative Case Study on Resilience, Independence, and Leadership of a Bhutanese Refugee Woman. Affilia, 35(1), 129-145. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109919871266
Diaz, E. M., & Kosciw, J. G. (2011). Jump-Starting Youth Community Leadership: An evaluation of a leadership development program for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Ally Youth. Journal of Youth Development, 7(1), 1-12.
Diemer, M. A., Hsieh, C. an, & Pan, T. (2009). School and parental influences on sociopolitical development among poor adolescents of color. The Counseling Psychologist, 37(2), 317-344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000008315971
Draper, S. (2018). Tejer cuidados a micro y macro escala entre lo público y lo común. En C. Vega, R. Martínez-Buján, & M. Paredes (Eds.), Cuidado, comunidad y común. Experiencias cooperativas en el sostenimiento de la vida (pp. 167-186). Traficantes de Sueños.
Duque, T., Aceros, J. C., & Paloma, V. (2022). Sociopolitical Development of female migrant domestic workers in Southern Spain: A qualitative study of a pathway against injustice. Journal of Applied and Community Psychology, 33, 454-468. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2613
Dutta, M. J., Comer, S., Teo, D., Luk, P., Lee, M., Zapata, D., Krishnaswamy, A., & Kaur, S. (2018). Health Meanings among Foreign Domestic Workers in Singapore: A Culture-Centered Approach. Health Communication, 33(5), 643-652. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1292576
Escrivá, Á., & Vianello, F. A. (2016). Late-career international migration and reproductive work. A comparison between Peruvian and Ukrainian women in the Southern Europe. Investigaciones Feministas, 7(1), 89-113. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_infe.2016.v7.n1.52104
Fulladosa, K. (2017). Mujeres en movimiento: Ampliando los márgenes de participación social y política en la acción colectiva como trabajadoras del hogar y el cuidado. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Hall, B. J., Pangan, C. A. C., Chan, E. W. W., & Huang, R. L. (2019). The effect of discrimination on depression and anxiety symptoms and the buffering role of social capital among female domestic workers in Macao, China. Psychiatry Research, 271(November 2018), 200-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.11.050
Hatzidimitriadou, E., & Çakir, S. (2009). Community Activism and Empowerment of Turkish‐Speaking Migrant Women in London. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 5(1), 34-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/17479894200900005
Heller, K. (1989). The return to community. American Journal of Community Psychology, 17(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00931199
Hope, E. C., Anyiwo, N., Palmer, G. J. M., Bañales, J., & Smith, C. D. (2023). Sociopolitical development: A history and overview of a black liberatory approach to youth development. American Psychologist, 78(4), 484-495. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001119
Lai, M. Y. (2010). Dancing to different tunes: Performance and activism among migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. Women’s Studies International Forum, 33(5), 501-511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2010.07.003
Magliano, M. J. (2018). Mujeres migrantes y empleo doméstico en Córdoba: Luchas y resistencias frente a formas de explotación y violencia laboral. En N. Borgeaud-Garciandía (Ed.), El trabajo de cuidado (pp. 31-55). Fundación Medifé.
McIntyre Miller, W., & Atwi, R. (2023). Migrant and Refugee Women: A Case for Community Leadership. Journal of Leadership Studies, 17(2), 47-52. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21858
Mira, M. L. (2013). Pushing the boundaries: What youth organizers at Boston’s Hyde Square Task Force have to teach us about civic engagement. Democracy and Education, 21(1), 1-3.
Nicholas, C., Eastman-Mueller, H., & Barbich, N. (2019). Empowering change agents: Youth organizing groups as sites for sociopolitical development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 63(1-2), 46-60. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12315
North, A. (2013). Reading and writing between different worlds: Learning, literacy and power in the lives of two migrant domestic workers. International Journal of Educational Development, 33(6), 595-603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2012.12.001
Ogaya, C. (2004). Filipino domestic workers and the creation of new subjectivities. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 13(3), 381-404. https://doi.org/10.1177/011719680401300305
Paloma, V., & Manzano-Arrondo, V. (2011). The role of organizations in Liberation Psychology: Applications to the study of migrations. Psychosocial Intervention, 20(3), 309-318. https://doi.org/10.5093/in2011v20n3a7
Patton, M. Q. (2014). Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice. Sage.
Piper, N. (2010). Temporary economic migration and rights activism: An organizational perspective. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(1), 108-125. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870903023884
Seider, S., Kelly, L., Clark, S., Jennett, P., El-Amin, A., Graves, D., Soutter, M., Malhotra, S., & Cabral, M. (2020). Fostering the sociopolitical development of African American and Latinx Adolescents to analyze and challenge racial and economic inequality. Youth and Society, 52(5), 756-794. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X18767783
Taurini, E., Paloma, V., García-Ramírez, M., Marzana, D., & Marta, E. (2017). Effects of the community engagement of migrants on their well-being: The case of Moroccan leaders in southern Spain. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 45(1), 32-43. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852352.2016.1197737
Vahabi, M., Wong, J. P. H., & Lofters, A. (2018). Migrant live-in caregivers mental health in Canada. Community Mental Health Journal, 54(5), 590-599. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-017-0225-5
Watts, R. J., & Abdul-Adil, J. K. (1998). Promoting Critical Consciousness in Young, African-American Men. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 16(1-2), 63-86. https://doi.org/10.1300/J005v16n01_04
Watts, R. J., Griffith, D. M., & Abdul-Adil, J. (1999). Sociopolitical development as an antidote for oppression—Theory and action. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(2), 255-271. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022839818873
Watts, R. J., & Guessous, O. (2006). Sociopolitical development: The missing link in research and policy on adolescents. En S. Ginwright, P. Noguera, & J. Cammarota (Eds.), Beyond Resistance! Youth Activism and Community Change: New Democratic Possibilities for Practice and Policy for America’s Youth (pp. 59-80). Routledge.
Watts, R. J., Williams, N. C., & Jagers, R. J. (2003). Sociopolitical development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1-2), 185-194. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023091024140
Wong, M. H. M., Keng, S. L., Buck, P. J., Suthendran, S., Wessels, A., & Østbye, T. (2019). Effects of mental health paraprofessional training for Filipina foreign domestic workers in Singapore. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 22(3), 571-579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-019-00907-4
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE.