index of 2005 conference papers

“We Are Better off Outside Our Country”: Diasporic Ecuadorian Women in Spain since the Mid-1990s

Esther Cuesta
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract: It is estimated that about 450,000 Ecuadorians live in Spain . Ecuadorians are one of the largest, if not the largest, immigrant national group in this country, alongside Moroccans. Since 1995, coinciding with the decline of Dominican and Peruvian migrations to Spain , Ecuadorians have migrated primarily to Spain and Italy . Women constitute more than half of this diaspora, mostly finding temporary jobs as domestic and hostel workers, and caretakers in urban centers such as Madrid , Barcelona , Bilbao , and Valencia . Many women live-in the houses where they work, thus avoiding expenses in food and rent. It is in a foreign country, however, where domestic workers earn more despite not always having the legal documentation to work.

Accentuating in 1984, neoliberal policies and structural adjustment programs deteriorated the quality of life and well-being of vast sectors of the Ecuadorian population. In the period of 1994-2005 social, economic and political instability has intensified with eight presidents in less than 10 years. The effects of the formal dollarization in 2000, the total lack of credibility in government institutions, inefficient economic policies, widespread poverty in rural and urban sectors, and lack of job opportunities have driven women to migrate in the last decade, often times leaving their children with relatives in Ecuador.

Remittances sent by Ecuadorian women and men are among the three most important revenues of the country. More than ever, competing markets lower the cost of remittances. Yet, remittances continue to be expensive for many women workers. These remittances serve to support their children in Ecuador, pay debts, and help their families.

These increasing migrations are transforming the dynamics of the Spanish and Ecuadorian cities and rural areas, as well as schools, websites, consulates and migratory regulations in Spain and Ecuador.

This paper analyzes the important repercussions of diasporic Ecuadorian women at the cultural, socio-economic and political levels in Spain and in Ecuador. Also, I examine the effects of migratory policies and Ecuadorian societal practices on Ecuadorian women, and why women are forced to migrate to European Union (EU) countries, when migrating to the United States becomes increasingly more difficult.

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Introduction

Guayaquil , Ecuador . January 1994: a close friend and neighbor across the street migrates to Germany . A month later I was living in New York City . In 1999 his sister joined my friend in Germany ; leaving her six-year-old son under the care of the infant’s great-grandmother. 1998: a cousin moves to Madrid , his wife and two children migrate a year later. Two years prior, my next-door neighbor, a native of Azuay, had migrated to Italy , leaving her eight-year-old daughter and her 13-year-old son with two different relatives. June 2000: my 48-year-old aunt migrates to Madrid . Not finding her job contacts in Madrid , she and her girlfriend take a train to Barcelona ; her adult daughter then follows her. 2005: another cousin from the province of Los Rios was taking care of an elderly in Madrid . As I am writing this essay, the family does not her whereabouts.

As an Ecuadorian immigrant woman myself, migration is not merely an academic interest or a subject of study. It is a day-to-day reality, a painful family issue, as well as part of intimate conversations and strategizing with friends.

Although since 1963 Ecuadorians did not need a visa to enter Spain as tourists for a maximum stay of 90 days, it was not until the mid 1990s that Ecuadorians started migrating to Spain in large numbers. As Saskia Sassen notes, the global mechanisms binding migrant’s receiving and sending countries are linked to past colonial and current neo- or quasi-colonial relationships, and economic globalization processes that range from countries’ dependency on foreign investment and the presence of multinationals in the consumer markets of sending countries (9). Ecuador ’s colonial history with Spain , its neo-colonial situation with the United States (and so-called global markets and international financial institutions), and the historic amnesia of these three countries have played a part in the Ecuadorian migrations to these two countries.

Since 1984, neoliberal models to attract foreign investment and multinational corporations and to reduce fiscal spending intensified (Sánchez-Parga 84). The high unemployment and subemployment, a cost of life much higher than the average salary, inflation reaching 52% in 1999, and 96% in 2000 with convertibility problems that came after the country’s formal dollarization, the closing of 16 financial institutions in the period of 1999-2000, and the constant socio-political and economic instability to the point of having eight presidents in less than 10 years, were all factors that forced thousands of Ecuadorians to migrate to Spain in search of jobs and socio-economic stability (Vistazo 30). In 2002, 45% of the Ecuadorian population wanted to get out of the country (30) and more than likely this percentage has not decreased since then.

There are, of course, many parallels between Ecuadorian transnational migrants and other people from the global south migrating to the north. At the same time, migratory experiences are very specific to each individual, country of origin, gender, and destination. Keeping in mind these specificities, this paper is informed by my own interviews with Ecuadorian women living in Spain and Ecuador and a series of testimonies published on-line in 2003 and 2004 by El Universo, a major Ecuadorian newspaper based in Guayaquil .

Considering the heterogeneity of the people living in what is today known as Ecuador, in terms of ethnicity, race, culture, access to capital and identification with the nation-state, as well as the complexities of the Ecuadorian diaspora in Spain, and given the brevity of my presentation, in this paper I address the following questions: 1) Why have Ecuadorian women increasingly migrated by themselves since the 1990s? How is this migration affecting their families? How different is this migration from previous Ecuadorian migrations? 2) How have the Spanish and the Ecuadorian governments dealt with these migrations? How have scholars and the media covered this issue? and 3) How is this migration changing Ecuadorian society?

The Feminization of the Ecuadorian Diaspora since the 1990s
and The Transatlantic Destination

“You cannot save money here, everything you earn is for daily expenses, to pay debts, for today, not for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Even potable water is so expensive now. I have no hope here. I’m in total debt. Salaries are miserable. One cannot live like this.”

A 31-year-old Ecuadorian woman eager to migrate within the next three years said to me. She added that she has plan her migration because she is married and has a daughter. Whether she will be able to migrate is unpredictable, but she is certain that in Ecuador she can no longer live. Countless Ecuadorian women find transnational migration as the only alternative to have a more stable job, a dignified salary, a social security with some security when one retires, less violence, less crime and a sense that one is working for a better life for oneself and one’s family (García 2-3). There are over 13 million people living in Ecuador and 7 to 10% of the population (about 1.3 M people) has left the country in the last 10 years. As in previous Ecuadorian migrations, people lose hope in the country, and they leave.

In 1970s and 1980s, Ecuadorians often migrated to the United States and concentrated in the New York metropolitan area. Most of this migration was male, young and from rural areas, especially from the provinces of Azuay and Cañar (Borrero-Vega 27-9; Carpio Benalcázar 21-23). Post 9-11 times aggravated the already difficult migration to the United States, border checkpoints are under more surveillance, and jobs without a working permit are more scarce and much less paid than before.

As an alternative, since the mid-1990s, there has been a marked increase in the Ecuadorian migration to Spain and other countries of the European Union (EU), highly concentrated, and thus more ‘visible,’ in urban settings such as Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Valencia. In fact, Ecuadorians are the largest immigrant group in Madrid and one of the largest and fastest growing in Spain . For instance, in 1995 there were 1,963 ‘legal’ Ecuadorians in Spain . In 1998, 7,046; in 1999, 12,933; in 2000, 50,000, and in 2004 there were 390,297 Ecuadorians in Spain (Alou Forner and INE, cited in El Universo 6.16.2004). It is estimated that over 450,000 Ecuadorians live in Spain , which is roughly the same, if not more, than those Ecuadorians living in the New York metropolitan area.

Ecuadorians in Spain, as in Ecuador, are a heterogeneous group—including indigenous people, Afro-Ecuadorians, poor people from the countryside, natives of rural areas (though most had migrated to urban settings at the time of migration), coming from all 22 provinces of Ecuador, and women and men of all ages. However, one of the features that distinguishes this migration is that many of these immigrants are professionals and middle-class people from the three main Ecuadorian cities: Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca. Most of them are women, and they have been the ones leading this migration (Jokisch & Pribilsky 85).

In most cases, immigrants take unappealing and unstable jobs, less protected, less paid, shunned by Spaniards—such as jobs in agriculture, construction, hotel and restaurant business, and domestic work (Arango 263-5). At this moment, Ecuadorian immigrants do not compete for higher paying jobs with Spaniards due to a presumed lack of formal education and skills of the new immigrants, but it seems more accurate to state many immigrants are forced to take unskilled and semi-skilled jobs because often times they have not been able to validate their professions, lack work permits or are discriminated.

The gendered stratification of labor already in place in Spain also restricts women to stay in the private sphere as domestic workers (Solé & Parella 65). The domestic worker, as Karen indicates, “works the whole day, they don’t let you breathe, it enslaves you, they humiliate you, they call you dumb, retrograde, and if you’re darker, it’s worse.”

In the case of Catalonia , the Basque Country and other parts of Spain where Catalan, Euskera and other languages are spoken, linguistic and cultural differences become more evident. The Ecuadorian immigrant in these regions must have some fluency in these languages to obtain better paying jobs and thus be less marginalized.

Since Ecuadorians are required a visa to enter Spain (and all Schengen “spaces” since June 2003) as tourists since August 2003, the Ecuadorian diaspora there has grown less rapidly in the last two years. It is interesting, however, that there seems to be more dialogue between the Spanish and Ecuadorian governments regarding migratory policies. Ecuadorians in Spain have organized themselves more effectively than the ones living in the U.S., creating associations and programs that work closely with the different Ecuadorian communities in the world, as well as with international and Ecuadorian organizations.

Feminist Praxis: From One Machista Society to Another, But It’s Different

“You feel you’re going nowhere. You work, work, and see no progress, but the country is getting into more poverty and corruption. Men don’t want to get married anymore. At work people want you to look nice, but with what money?…There are no jobs for women older than 35, especially if you don’t have a career. If you aren’t young, you’re screwed.”

A key aspect to better understand why Ecuadorian women have been migrating in large numbers in the last decade is the machista and patriarchal organization of Ecuadorian society. Of course this is not an isolated case in the world. In urban centers, Ecuadorian women—less formally educated than men—usually work in the service sector. Women older than 35 have extremely limited job opportunities since they are no longer considered ‘attractive,’ following the white supremacist aesthetics to borrow bell hooks’ term. Therefore, young women who wear minidresses or miniskirts, and show legs are given priority over older women. Unlike previous migrations, a large number of women over 35 have migrated to Spain . They see that things are not changing in Ecuador and are not bound to change anytime soon.

The very rigid social hierarchies, as Ann Miles notes, make it almost impossible for poor, lower-middle class, indigenous-looking people, and Afro-Ecuadorians to move in the social ladder (28); and women have it worse. Despite that in the last two decades indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian communities have become active agents in Ecuador ’s political life, especially indigenous communities, Ecuadorian society is still plagued by occidentalist notions of race and class. By migrating, women can alter the social hierarchy, have access capital, cosmopolitan experiences, and feel more independent.

On the other hand, by migrating women can leave their parents’ house without having to get married. In Ecuador , most women leave the family house once they get married. Single mothers, women separated or divorced, with children or not, often live with their parents because they cannot afford to live by themselves. If a woman has not married by the age of 30, the social pressure increases and she often feels like she has not accomplished what is expected of her. Queerness is still a hypocritical taboo in the sense that everyone knows or “suspects” who is queer, but people do not discuss it openly. Now that gay marriage was approved in Spain (although there are pressures to have it revoked), Spain offers alternatives to many Ecuadorian women and men. In Spain , women may live with 10 people: strangers, relatives, friends, or acquaintances, may feel isolated, discriminated, and marginalized by the Spanish society, but they also enjoy some independence they did not and would not have in Ecuador .

Another aspect to consider is the impact of the men’s physical, emotional, and psychological violence against women. In Spain and in the U.S. , Ecuadorian women feel more protected by the law. At the same time men are more careful and hesitant to be violent toward women because they fear that women may use the law to protect themselves. In Ecuador it is relatively easy to bribe authorities, including police officers, the military, judges, and lawyers.

Transnational Families: Long-Distance Relations with Remittances

Many of the women who migrated to Spain by themselves did not have a steady partner at the time of migration. Thousands of women have migrated to Spain , leaving their children with relatives. If their children were over 18, they would remain in the household by themselves. This is the case of Verónica who was in her early 20s when her mother migrated to Spain in 2001. Verónica states:

“It was a change of 360 degrees when my mom left because I had depended so much on her. I had to learn to depend on myself to encourage my younger brother, to be a sister and a mother to him. We knew that my mom sacrificed for our welfare. I couldn’t disappoint her. I continued studying and working. Before my mom left, I almost never got sick. When she left, I developed allergies, got the flu; it was rather something psychological. My mom has been with us for everything. We talk on the phone every week. I yearn the moment when I see her. I have valued her much more now that she’s far away. I thank God for protecting her.”

When asked, why Verónica’s mother, then 47, left instead of her, Verónica responded that her mother did not want Verónica to make the sacrifice of working as an immigrant, thus “lower her head.” In Guayaquil, Verónica works in a nice office as a customer representative (though with a salary she cannot live) and recently finished her studies in journalism. Verónica’s mother makes about $800 a month taking care of an elderly, and sends around $200 to $300 monthly to her daughter through bank wires. Verónica has not seen her mother in four years and her mother did not have legal residence when Verónica got married. Therefore, she could not be there. In the ceremony, however, her brother had a cell phone in his hand and his mother was on the phone. No doubt, technology has helped people to keep in touch and help each other financially while also suffering the absence of their loved ones.

While a significant number of transnational families are being formed, the fact that many transnational Ecuadorian migrants are “undocumented” or “irregular” keeps long-distance relationships for years and often times, decades. During this time, however, migrants send remittances to their families and relatives, and most are spent in day-to-day expenses, medical costs, school, housing remodeling or buying. Unlike previous migrations, few invest in businesses because of the country’s economic instability.

In 2002 remittances constituted the second source of national revenue, only after oil, and were more than the total traditional exports of banana, shrimp, coffee, and cocoa. (Vistazo 30). According to the Central Bank of Ecuador in 2002, $1,450 million entered the country as remittances. In 2004, remittances were $1,604,200,000 (El Universo 8.6.04). In the first three months of 2005 the remittances were $416, M; 43% went from the U.S., 39% from Spain, and the rest from other countries, mainly European countries (El Universo 8.6.04). So, while Ecuadorians in the U.S. are the main senders of remittances, in 10 years, Ecuadorians in Spain are catching up.

The Spanish and the Ecuadorian Media

As stated earlier, Ecuadorians are concentrated in large urban sectors of Spain , including Madrid , Barcelona , and Bilbao , where they find more jobs. By living in cities, playing music in the largest plazas or working as street vendors, Ecuadorians become somewhat more visible in Spanish society, where a kind of neo-racism has developed vis-à-vis what does not seem from occident.

Claudia Pedone notes that the Spanish international, national, and local media has often times practiced a kind of “cultural fundamentalism” in their diffusion of news, carrying xenophobic attitudes, exclusionary rhetoric and methods, and segregation of non-communitary workers have made immigrants “visible” in a negative manner, worsening their social, economic, cultural, and spatial segregation (2-4).

For instance, when in January 2001, 12 Ecuadorians died in an accident in Lorca, Murcia—where there is a large community of Ecuadorians, mainly working in agriculture—Ecuadorian immigrants became “visible” to Spaniards, as well as their exploitation by Spaniard employers. Semi-slavery working conditions were denounced; however, after a month, Ecuadorians returned to invisibility in the media (Pedone).

On the other hand, in Ecuador , the growing Ecuadorian diáspora has changed the way newspapers present news regarding migration. For instance, El Universo has a permanent section called “Migration” in the printed and on-line version, where bilateral migratory agreements, passport requirements, and news are included. In the subsection, “Emigrants’ Voices” there are about 500 messages from Ecuadorians living in diverse places, including Santiago de Chile, Germany , Italy , Spain , London , Australia , Switzerland , the U.S. , Belgium , and Canada , sending their greetings to their families around the country.

El Comercio , another major newspaper based in Quito , has a section “Ecuadorians in the World” with a subsection “Album Familiar,” where immigrants can attach pictures to their messages and this subsection will soon be included in the newspaper’s printed version. The New section: “What are we doing outside?” encourages letters from immigrants to write their experiences, struggles, and achieved goals in the country in which they currently reside.

Conclusions

There are currently 12 Ecuadorian consulates in Spain, and a number of associations of Ecuadorian immigrants in Spain. Both the Spanish and Ecuadorian governments have signed migratory agreements, but these are not enough for the amount of Ecuadorians who live in a country where the world capitalist system continues to oppress them. Due to the impact of these new waves of migrations, the Ecuadorian diaspora has begun to interest intellectuals and academics throughout the world, to the extent that it was the topic of an entire conference organized by the Facultad de Estudios Latinoamericanos y Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) Ecuador in January of this year.

While Ecuadorians constantly know about the risks, exploitation, abuses, deaths, and deportations that migrants experience in countries such the United States, Spain, Italy, and others countries, and some efforts have been made by non-profit organizations and the civil society to assist and inform migrants and those who plan to migrate, it seems that the Ecuadorian media mainly stresses the positive things about transnational migration, presenting deportations, authority abuses, and people trafficking, usually of women and children, as isolated cases, without presenting a clear picture of the gruesome nature of people trafficking and the living conditions of many migrants. On the other hand, the Ecuadorian government has done practically nothing to stop people from being extorted by paying $10,000 to $12,000 to enter the U.S. or EU countries.

Assuming that people know the risks, people still take the chance. This is the level of desperation. People spend thousands of dollars, leaving their familiar environment, culture, and language to work in countries of stronger economies. As immigrants, Ecuadorians are aware that they may be seen as inferior and thus often internalize that perception. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that most of the time, Ecuadorian immigrants feel better outside of their country, where they work, can support themselves, and can provide for their families. “It has become impossible to live in Ecuador.” I was told by an Ecuadorian woman. Ecuadorian women, more than ever, venture to foreign lands without Schengen visas, or any visas in most cases, paying thousands of dollars, getting in debt, but often times, there is a contact in the place of final destination: a relative, a friend, an acquaintance who may guide them at the beginning. These are the resources most Ecuadorian women have, people. The nation-state has failed. The economic globalization has failed in Ecuador. That’s why “we’re better off outside of our country.”

Back in 1995, few could have foreseen the formation of the Ecuadorian diaspora in Spain. With new migratory policies, there are now fewer Ecuadorians migrating to Spain. I do not doubt that 10 years from now there will be other large Ecuadorian diasporas in the planet. And while thousands of Colombians, Iraqis, and Afghanis are migrating to Ecuador escaping from violence, and the Ecuadorian government mostly denies them asylum (Cartillas), more and more Ecuadorians continue leaving.

NOTES

I do not mention her name to protect her identity. Throughout this essay, I have changed the names of the women I interviewed also to protect their privacy. This is what an Ecuadorian woman in her thirties said to me. She lives in Ecuador.

An Ecuadorian woman, married, with one child. An Ecuadorian woman in her thirties who live in Spain said it in a telephone interview.

Works cited

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Solé, Carlota and Sònia Parella. “Migrant Women in Spain: Class, Gender and Ethnicity.” Gender and Ethnicity in Contemporary Europe. Ed. Jacqueline Andall. Oxford & New York: Berg, 2003. Vistazo. Feb 7, 2002. Guayaquil, Ecuador.

index of 2005 conference papers