Life histories of the empowerment of South Asian migrant women in the Basque CountryGender roles, culture, identity and transformations

Resumen

The aim of this study is to portray the personal empowerment of women from South Asia in the Basque Country. The study also attempts to present the path towards the empowerment of migrant women. The roles assigned to women, cultural identity and migration as an empowering and transformative tool are discussed. This work is an initial attempt to address the factors that contribute to the construction of gender roles in the culture of origin of the participants, the transformation of cultural identity into personal identity and an attempt to understand the role of female networking in the creation of alliances among women. Furthermore, the visualisation of women and the relevance of women’s life experiences is being addressed. The empirical part of the study is conducted in the Basque Country with five South Asian migrant women from India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The narrative research approach through the life history method is used for this study. The participants are interviewed between two and four times through semi-structured interviews with open-ended cuestions. First, the data is analysed individually and then, a group analysis is provided. On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that migration has a positive effect on migrant women from South Asia despite all the obstacles. Some of the empowering features identified in the thesis are: the capacity to express themselves in the local language, decision making capacity, self-reliance, self-sufficiency, self-esteem, financial independance, freedom of choice, strength and the creation of networks among women. The author recommends further research in South Asian migration in the Basque Country with specific emphasis on overcoming the institutional and the cultural obstacles.