Mapping Southern Routes of Migrant Women: A Case Study of Chile

Whereas most migration research still focuses on South to North migration, this book shines a light on mobilities within the Global South. Using migration to and within Chile as a case study, the book looks at the experiences of women, who make up a large proportion of migrants within Latin America.

Mapping the experiences, aspirations and struggles of women moving to and in Chile, the book exposes the unexpected issues encountered by migrant women in their new destination country, particularly the discrimination that leaves them feeling invisible, unsettled, and, immobile. Within the region there is a long history of feminized migration and domestic labour circuits that spurs migrants’ residential movements but slows their social progress. Yet despite these challenges, the migrant women expressed their agency through the support networks they created among their compatriots and their transnational families. Overall, the book demonstrates the growing migrant populations that exist within the Global South and the impact of domestic and care labour markets in driving gendered migration in particular.

This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in the fields of mobilities and migration, cultural geography, international development, and gender studies, especially those with an interest in Latin America.

Sondra Cuban is Professor in the Department of Health and Community Studies, Western Washington University, USA with her Fullbright study based at Universidad de La Frontera, Chile.