Political participation of migrant women through associations in Galicia: Leadership and power relations

This article analyzes gender relations in migrant associations of Galicia as the main organizational forms of social and political participation of this population. Starting from a typology of associations that considers, first and foremost, their mixed nature or not, as well as the presence or absence of female leadership, we study both the gendered power relations that underpin this typology and other elements that explain the political participation of migrant women: the sexual division of labor among migrants, sex-gender systems, previous associative experience at origin and public policies on integration, especially at the local level. The results of the analysis suggest that the preeminent role of women in mixed associations is not due to emancipatory awareness but rather to circumstantial factors, while the emergence of other exclusively female ones responds to an escape from the machismo in their communities. The research methodology sequentially combines quantitative (census of migrant associations and telephone surveys) and qualitative (semi-directed interviews with male and female associative leaders) empirical material, as well as an ethnographic case study.