Morocco’s northern border region: gender, labour and mobility

Abstract

This paper presents the results of two recent studies on gender, labour and mobility on the borders between Morocco and Spain. Industrial relocation and the feminised labour market was the first focus of our attention. Subsequently, we integrated research on cross-border labour markets, such as the small-scale commercial activity carried out by women. The objective of these studies is to understand the impacts of globalisation processes, such as industrial relocation and border dynamics, on the daily lives of women. Therefore, we consider theoretical approaches to female participation in emerging economic circuits in developing countries as a macro-vision that enables contextualisation at a micro-social level. At the micro level, our analysis draws from the notion of lived precariousness as a perspective that allows us to examine the testimonies and the meaning they give to their experience. The results not only indicate that the complexity of border life and its precariousness represent a challenge for women – who develop different ways of dealing with structural and cultural limits as they strive for more substantial autonomy and empowerment – but also provide a glimpse of a broader trend in female economic participation in these circuits that appears to reproduce gender inequalities and pose new obstacles.