Migration of female agricultural workers: from the Moroccan tomato fields to the Spanish strawberry farms

Abstract

The opening of the demographic window in Morocco provided important opportunities for the woman's contribution to economic development, and liberated her from social "restrictions" and inherited customs and traditions. The option of opening up to a market economy and encouraging foreign investment in the export agriculture sector adopted by the state, it became an urgent need for a workforce that was not covered by the available offer. So the investors resorted to requesting female workers with encouraging characteristics, and for this purpose there were streams of migration towards the major agricultural poles, similar to Chtouka in the Souss Plain in southern Morocco. The female migration marked the beginning of fundamental transformations that touched the national immigration system that issued tens of thousands of workers towards strawberry farms, framed by agreements with the Spanish government, and responding to the aims of immigration policy in the European Union. The predominant feminization of immigration to Spain is imposed by the conditions of the employees of strawberry planters who insist on gender and special characteristics in age, marital status and childbearing to ensure their return immediately after the end of the agricultural season. However, those specifications have violated many values and accelerated the pace of social change in the country, especially after the influx of widows, divorced women and women with poor families