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Stereotypes, identities, roles and economic niches of Brazilian women immigrants in Madrid

The Brazilian women correspond to 65% of the Brazilian immigrants in Spain. This feminization of the displacement is deeply related with a change of the gender relations lived by these women both in Brazil and in host society. In Madrid, Brazilian women are protagonists of a new kind of entrepreneurship. They run small businesses in the field of restoration and of aesthetics and beauty. Nevertheless, they are most commonly employed in low-paid jobs, generally related with domestic services and child/elder care, and with prostitution - being in many cases associated with a stereotype of hyper-sexuality that influences the economic niches they can or can't access. The aim of this paper is to analyze the economic roles of Brazilian immigrants in Madrid, also discussing the imaginaries of the host society with which they dialog to make their economic insertion feasible in Spain.

Immigration; Brazilian Women; Gender; Sexual Stereotypes; Economic Niches


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