Some Analytical and Conceptual Refinements

The progressive incorporation of a gender perspective into the field of migration studies contributed to visualizing new dynamics and interaction styles that trigger migration processes in the families, which allows contesting the places and responsibilities traditionally assigned to men and women in the households (^{Pedone & Gil, 2016}). Particularly, the migration of women as pioneers of migration projects paved the way for questions related to “ideological breaks produced around the traditional role assigned to women as guarantors of the care of children, husbands and the elderly” (^{Gil & Pedone, 2014, p. 8}). In parallel, the rejection of the idealization of family relationships favored the comprehension of the family as a social organization crossed by various power and authority hierarchies based on gender (^{Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2007}).

A frequent debate in migration studies revolves around whether “migration helps reorient and questions the normative understanding of gender roles and ideologies by altering the traditional roles, labor divisions and other significant categories of gender and generational construction” (^{Sørensen, 2008, p. 269}). In this regard, evidence is not concluding (^{Gónzalvez, 2010}); according to ^{Gregorio (2010)} “the conclusions of the works are as dissimilar as the contexts where the researches were carried out” (p. 56). In point of fact, some studies show that occasionally migrations only stimulate processes that were ongoing before traveling (^{Morokvasic, 1984}).

^{Rosas (2014}) finds that the effects of relationships and gender status are neither homogeneous nor unidirectional. Even so, studies on Iberian-American migrations have allowed glimpsing the way migration implies experiences that are different for women and men, at once, it stimulates the reorganization of supportive and care networks and makes room for new forms of daily family organization and “novel conceptions of maternity and paternity” (^{Echeverri, 2013}, p. 10). Well now, understanding that the world of family is crossed by power relations that refer to gender positions, which represent a system of inequalities that shapes transnational family relationships. It is relevant to include a gender perspective in this study, more so, when the question regarding if migration processes alter the traditional role division or strengthen the asymmetries present in family life persist.

In demographic studies in Latin America, domestic reproduction has been one of the most consistently analyzed dimensions. In the present study, domestic reproduction is understood as the articulation of the productive and reproductive spheres as both points at the reposition and maintenance of the labor force. In this sense, the former refers to the set of reproductive tasks carried out regularly in the family; while the latter, to activities aimed at the production system (^{García & de Oliveira, 2014}). In this way, it is recognized that domestic reproduction is characterized by an indissoluble and mutually influencing relationship between the productive and reproductive spheres.

In recent decades, domestic reproduction has been approached from an integral vision of the concept of labor, articulating domestic and extra-domestic activities. Results from research works related to this dimension concur in revealing that the intrafamily world is a space characterized by configuring interdependence and uneven distribution of power; situations that essentially express in the unequal labor division in the family (^{de Oliveira, 2007}), since there is dissimilar participation of the family members in both spheres. Therefore, we start from the supposition that domestic reproduction is a unbalance in individual responsibilities; arrangements that respond to differentiation axes such as sex and age, which define the positions and hierarchies of the family members (^{García & de Oliveira, 2014}). These inequalities indubitably represent “uneven loads and different ways of accessing resources in which women and children, the youngest and the oldest take the weakest positions” (^{González de la Rocha, 2006}, p. 76).

As an analytical dimension, domestic reproduction refers in this approach to the way productive and reproductive work takes place in the researched groups. That is to say, the organizational forms of the families during the return are analyzed in relation to the total workload. The above is carried out by means of two indissoluble dimensions in the reproductive sphere: domestic and extra- domestic work. Particularly, the analysis of extra-domestic work intends to find out the organizational patterns of the family economy in relation to the members who participate in production, commerce, or services, with which they try to obtain resources to ensure the family’s material sustenance.

The spheres taken as indicators of this dimension for the purposes of this study are a) continuity and discontinuity in extra-domestic participation of the family members at working ages; b) sort of labor (salaried, self-employed, a nonremunerated relative; inside or outside the household); c) sources of income (wages, rents, remittances, subsidies, among others); d) the economic contributions to the household budget and resource management.

As for domestic work, it comprises all the actions that need to be carried out to meet the basic daily needs in favor of the family’s wellbeing. It is worth underscoring that even if these activities are indispensable for the reproduction of the whole group, women are given this responsibility traditionally, thereby it is work that exhibits persistent segregation in the family core. Well now, among the set of activities encompassed in this form of work special attention is paid to the intervention of the family members in relation to a) household services (preparing food, cleaning the house, washing and ironing clothes); b) supportive services (paperwork, shopping, transport, and household repairs); c) childcare. Likewise, as much as possible, it is sought to identify the perceptions the family members express about these arrangements and their involvement.

Going to and fro along the path of reproduction

Families at an Early Phase

This group comprises six families; all these families are biparental nuclear households that remained undivided during their stay in Spain; save one family, in which case the marital dissolution took place after moving to Colombia, the rest of them keep the same structure after returning. For only one domestic unit, whose stay abroad was six years, for the others, it was longer than a decade. Their return, though longer than twelve months, in no case surpasses three years. Out of the six families, four belong to the mid-high class, the other two, to the mid-low class. The highest schooling of the heads is university (graduate and undergraduate), while for the latter, only secondary (complete).

For five of these families, the marital union and the birth of children occurred in Spain; in these cases, the migration was not decided as a family project: for half of these groups, their migration was decided as an unmarried couple, in this way, the marital union was the result of establishing in the destination. Well now, living in Spain as a couple did not discourage these women’s propensity to participate in productive activities, for in all of the cases there is continuity in the female labor trajectories.

Particularly, the women in these families went from working in offices in Colombia to being housemaids in Spain; however, three of them were later hired in lodging and trade. The above comes to show that despite the increasing enrolment of women into the labor market, the employment opportunities for certain groups of women are still tied to noticeably feminized work posts, even in the Spanish context (^{Gónzalvez, Medina, & Tapia, 2009}). For its part, the husbands’ labor status was more heterogeneous before migration, whereas in the recipient country, they were mainly hired in construction.

As regards incomes from their labor activities in Spain, both spouses destined their own for the economic support of the household, in this way, women took up the role of co-breadwinners and participated equally in the management of resources. This scenario concurs with some transformations framed in long-lasting processes in some Latin American countries such as Mexico, Argentina, and even Colombia, where there are indications -subtle and not free from contradictions- of a gradual displacement of men as the only breadwinners; in this way, it is presently understood that it is a task shared by the parents (^{Puyana, Micolta, & Jiménez, 2013}). In this respect, research works focusing on Colombian transnational families that have migrated to Spain from the city of Pereira also identified the preponderance of women as co-providers by means of economic activities performed inside and outside the households (^{Tapia, Gonzálvez- Torralbo, & Rodríguez-Pizarro, 2009}).

In all of the cases, the continuity in the labor trajectories of these women was broken by the arrival of children; that is to say, each birth entailed the temporary interruption of their labor trajectories. It is noticeable that their labor reinsertion abroad was conditioned by the possibility of making extra-domestic labor and childcare compatible; at least it was so for half of these families. From this standpoint, the strategies women deployed to balance family and labor life make it clear that the responsibility to make arrangements to care for their children was exclusively theirs; while for their part, the men in these families did not feel compelled to perform any activity to conciliate these two spheres. The narrations of the families enquired refer to gender stereotypes that deem childcare inherent to women (^{Micolta, Escobar, & Maldonado, 2009}).

My wife had her own schedule because she cleaned houses in several places, then she made the time to pick up the girl, come to have lunch, and if on some days she had complications, she took the girl to work (Jorge, 34 years, personal communication, October 22, 2015).

The way the contradictions between the productive and reproductive spheres were solved in these families did not necessarily imply a severance, since the strategies women deployed to obtain resources also belong to the world of labor (^{Tapia et al., 2009}). The arrival of a second child invariably suspended the continuity of the mothers’ extra-domestic activities; in fact, in one of these cases, it led the mother to permanently retire from any productive activity during the rest of the stay. In this family, this withdrawal was possible due to the husband’s labor stability and income, which allowed covering the material necessities of the household. Retiring from economic activities was narrated by the mother as a couple of agreement; this traditional gender arrangement, in which the mandate of male economic provision is fulfilled, allows glimpsing that at least in this family, there was neither transformation in the sexual division of labor nor gender relationships over the stay abroad.

While the mothers in this stage interrupted their professional careers abroad -most of them temporarily- because of tasks related to care, some men experienced so due to the 2008 GFC. However, employment insurance enabled them to continue contributing to support the household together with their wives, who were less affected by the economic-labor decline of the country. Well now, except for one family, in which none of the parents managed to fully incorporate to labor activities after returning, the rest of the households, returning to Colombia favored the labor linking of men who had experienced long unemployment periods in Spain.

Conversely, women experienced a break in their extra-domestic labor activities. This sex- differenced labor insertion for returned migrants of the families under study evinces the gaps in employment opportunities for men and women in Colombia. According to ^{Sabogal (2012}), in the last two decades, unemployment rates for women have been around 5% points higher than for men. Something similar is noticed in regional differences, particularly, Pereira persistently has high unemployment rates (^{Arango, 2011}).

It must be underscored that except for two cases, there was a relative commitment of the husbands to reproductive activities before returning, in the rest of the families, their poor participation in house chores and childcare was the norm. As a matter of fact, in three of these families, regardless of the place of residence men’s contribution in this regard has been virtually inexistent. In the households where the most male participation is identified, the contributions of men coincide with their unemployment periods in Spain and Colombia alike; in this way, once men reenter the labor market, they are seemingly relieved from the household responsibilities they took up. The above allows noticing the contingent nature where domestic work is taken by the men under study.

Let’s say, he’s going to make lunch or breakfast for me, no, not anymore, there he was lovely, he cooked there […] and here as he’s working already, he doesn’t do a thing. I tell him that I left my husband in Spain, here I’m with another man (Sara, 37 years, personal communication, September 22, 2015).

In this sense, ^{Tapia et al., (2009}) identified resistances and contradictions in the way fathers of Colombian transnational families contribute to the domestic sphere. ^{Puyana (2003}) found that men in Colombia do not accept their role in household activities, while women properly assume their role of providers.

The previously described scenario reveals that the patterns of productive and reproductive labor of the families in the early stage exhibit some rearrangements after returning, as a certain inflection is observed in the labor careers of some women, at once it favored the reinsertion of some men of the studied families into the labor market; this situation entailed a heavier domestic load for women, either because of the interruption of their productive activities or the poor commitment of their husbands to household responsibilities.

Certainly, in these families, the consolidation of women as breadwinners has meant a certain loss of obligations for the fathers and an overload of functions for mothers, as evinced in other research works (^{Gónzalvez et al., 2009}).

The results show that male contribution to house chores during and after migration characterizes by being circumstantial (associated with male unemployment), it has even been non-existent for some families. This result concurs with ^{Gregorio’s (1998)} findings; this author, in the context of transnational domestic groups, discovered that in the face of economic need, the roles may become flexible, though this does not necessarily imply a break in the power relations between genders

Families in Consolidation Phase

This group is more heterogeneous than the previous; not only does it comprise biparental households, but also female single parents. Plus, it characterizes because most of the households modified their structure after migrating, at once, out of new re-emigration processes started after returning, the dispersion of two households in this group took place. As a set, for the eight families in this group, the migration lasted between three and fourteen years, while the return varies between one and five years. Moreover, four households belong to the low class, two to mid-low, and the other two mid-high classes.

Considering the family life cycle this group is at, children are between 12 and 18 years of age, a situation that would imply a certain simplicity to link to extra-domestic activities by both parents, nevertheless, in two of the five biparental households, the mothers consider that childcare is their main responsibility; this way, after returning they exclusively engaged in reproductive work, whereas their husbands, after a frustrated labor reinsertion, look at re-emigration as the way to ensure the economic sustenance of the household. In both cases, the source of income is remittances and despite mothers serving as everyday managers of the resources, the migrants have the last word as regards purchases, expenditures, or important investments. It is worth distinguishing that in these two specific families, regardless of the place of residence, the participation in extra-domestic work has been essentially masculine, while domestic tasks have been the responsibility of women, as one of them admits: “… from the beginning it has been clear that he is the one in charge of working while I take care of the house.”

At once, in these two families, the least participation of the offspring is noticed in house chores; such contributions are seen by the mothers as help, not an obligation, for they place their children’s schooling as a priority, supported in the idea of the mother as an unconditional woman willing to do what it takes for her children. In this sense, 45-year-old Valeria, mother of two daughters, 13 and 14, believes that her main function is to care for her children and take care of her home.

I have always thought that if one has children is to raise them and I’m very concerned about leaving the girls alone… now as adolescents you cannot leave them alone and I’m not doing that (Valeria, 45 years, personal communication, November 7, 2015).

The above allows noticing a conception of the traditional gender roles and practices, where the life projects revolve around childcare (^{Morad, Rodríguez, & Bonilla, 2013}; ^{Tapia, et al., 2009}). In line with this, ^{Gregorio (2010)} states that beyond possible gender negotiations that take place in the transnational space, migrant women still give priority to their role as mothers. Unlike the two families previously described, in the other biparental households in this stage (three), stressed extra-domestic participation of both spouses is identified. In point of fact, it is noticed that women have a greater attachment and valorization of productive work. Indeed, the labor career of these mothers has been very stable, and the return did not interrupt their labor trajectories. The above translates as the prevalence of a model of shared provision, concurring with the observations for early-phase families.

The active intervention of mothers in extra-domestic full-time work outside the residence has not necessarily meant a double load for them, though neither has it relieved from the responsibility of their households as a whole. In fact, save for one case, an equal distribution of these tasks between the spouses is not noticed, as the performance of household tasks is ensured via family networks (other women), service personnel, and to a lesser extent, aided by adolescent children; in this way, generally, the husbands’ actuation in these activities is rather limited. For this subset, the participation of adolescent children in the domestic sphere is also interpreted by the parents as help, which is no obligation in any case.

The situation is different for the single mothers in this family life cycle (three), for these are households in which the marital dissolution occurred during migration, and the mothers had to head them and take up all the economic responsibilities of the households after the fathers’ unfulfillment. In this vein, recent studies have identified that after the separation some fathers “do not manage to establish a difference between their place as spouses and the role of fathers, which entails distancing and weakening of the link” (^{Sánchez, López-Montaño, & Palacio, 2013}, p.166), to the extent that they also distance from their children not only economically, but also regarding affection and care.

For women, this situation means an overload in raising and educating the children, which becomes a sentiment of heavier responsibility (^{Tapia et al., 2009}): “they got divorced (my parents) and then my dad started to relax and left all the responsibility to my mom” (Dora, 20 years, personal communication, November 14, 2015).

Well now, after returning, these former migrants live with their mothers, who were in charge of the offspring during their absence. These families belong to popular sectors, which possibly explains the limited availability of economic resources they experience, plus, in the three cases, extra-domestic activities are carried out in the household (hairdressing, piecework).

Moreover, in these families, mothers are the main providers and their participation in productive activities is less uninterrupted and more precarious; surely, out of economic necessity, for despite they occasionally receiving some economic support from their children, this is insufficient to afford the household expenses. This subset has in common that the older children have had to give up on their schooling expectations due to lack of money and had to start working early in their lives. Albeit the jobs these youths have had are distinguishable for their precariousness and instability owing to factors such as age, lack of working experience, and qualifications.

The concern produced in the children by the mothers’ economic overload does not necessarily become a higher commitment to doing housework; such situation is reinforced by the mothers themselves, for whom, as identified in the households in this category, the main obligation of the children is a good performance at academic activities. Certain resignation is noticed in the mothers before the double shift they take up.

[my daughter] Dora helps me a lot, but now in the situation, she is [pregnant] there’s little she can do, the little one she always wants to help and aid me in everything, but she can’t because she is studying… and it’s very difficult that the other daughter does something… then, well, it is almost always me, I do everything (Frida, 37 years, personal communication, November 14, 2015)

To sum up, the families in the consolidation phase of this study are characterized by a more heterogeneous organization as regards the participation of the members in generating incomes to support the household. As in the early stage, attention to household tasks and childcare are responsibilities of the mothers. Not only do these families lack equitable gender distribution of domestic tasks, but also take place at the generational level, as the children have a longer intervention in this phase, their contribution is interpreted by their mothers in particular as a help, not a duty.

In single-parent families, mothers are the breadwinners and also do the housework, and despite some children trying to contribute to material support, others do not have the same disposition for housework. In these cases, besides, the socioeconomic belonging seems to limit the opportunities and resources the members can access during the return. To sum up, in these family units, the organization patterns of reproductive work are relatively stable, despite migrations, that is to say, no substantial transformations in the sexual division of labor and gender relationships are identified; this if the form they took in the premigration stage and over the stay in Spain are considered.

Families in Advanced Phase

This group characterizes because all the children are older than 19. It comprises four families: two biparental, the other single-parental with a female head. With no exception these households experienced family dispersion processes after the emigration of the parents, in one of the cases, emigration was performed by both parents, in another case, only the father; while in the other two, the mothers. Exposition to migration was for about a decade and the return varies between two and three years. Families in the advanced phase come from mid and low classes, which concurs with their schooling level, which invariably are below a university degree.

In these families, labor discontinuity after returning has been more stressed for men and women, maybe associated with the age and low qualification of the returnees in this phase (older than 45 years). In these cases, the returnees’ lack of savings or incomes produced an imbalance in the model of shared provision which the two single-parent households had during migration. This situation is illustrated by means of the family of Martha and Marcos; he has not found a steady job three years after returning, hence, providing has become his wife’s task, whose income is her pension; and despite their only child is linked to the labor market, he does not economically contribute to support the household, and justifies the “inactivity” of his father:

I think that at once my father wants to work and doesn’t, the way I see it, I think he worked a lot and very hard there, I don’t see anything wrong if he doesn’t work (Ricardo, 23 years, personal communication, November 5, 2015).

The

father acknowledges that his return has meant a heavier economic pressure for his wife, though he considers that as long as he received a wage, he was loyal to his family, which allows him to cope with his unemployment relatively easily.

[…] sure, one feels bad because I have worked all my life and have supported the house, I have fulfilled this duty. On one side, I feel bad, not because I’m machista, but because she’s earning everything, but I’m also grateful that there is food on the table […]. (Marcos, 46 years, personal communication, November 30, 2015).

Despite her husband’s return has meant a heavy economic burden for Martha, she admits that at the times Marcos has had a job, she is the one that manages the money he earns:

[…] let’s say he is working, he gives me his card, and then he tells me I’ll go buy this, give some money… I don’t see that he leaves a single peso for him […]. (Martha, 58 years, personal communication, October 31, 2015).

As regards the contribution of the members of this family to domestic work, the imbalance is much greater, and even after the return, Martha identifies an involution regarding the activities her husband carried out before migrating, which Marcos justifies saying that it is because they have service personnel to support Martha.

The absence of economic noticeability of the returnees has given rise to certain demands in the domestic sphere, that is to say, they are expected to participate more in these activities. However, these requirements seem to substantiate the traditional valuing of family roles and duties, marked by stereotyped gender constructions. The above is noticed in Miriam’s family, where her daughter, Perla, affords all the household’s expenses and expects her returned mother to take up the domestic housework in compensation: “… she has to do the cooking, that for Colombian women is not being a maid, but a mother! Being a mom is to do the washing and caring” (Perla, 40 years, personal communication, November 26, 2015). However, Miriam considers that even if she does not contribute with money to support the household, the house they live is hers and her daughter does not pay rent; this way, more than a dependence relationship, it poses certain economic complementariness, which seemingly her daughter does not recognize.

[…] she supports the house … but she doesn’t have to pay rent here, she pays the services and management… she feels I’m abusing her, but I have to take care of her son (grandson) half of the time, see that he has to something to eat […]. (Miriam, 66 years, personal communication, November 26, 2015).

As noticed in families in the early and consolidation phases, when abroad both spouses shared domestic responsibilities in a more or less balanced manner, though upon returning it is noticed that men relieve themselves from these duties.

[…] we worked the same if he arrived first, he cooked, he did the dishes and the washing, he did stuff, if he was at home while I was at work, we shared housework… here, it is not so, work is solely for myself, that’s what I don’t agree with because he was an utterly different person there […] (Beatriz, 53 years, personal communication, November 5, 2015).

Each family experience is particular, it comes from agreements and forms of coexistence that have been configured over their individual and family lives, before, during, and after migrating (^{Sánchez et al., 2013}). In these families, the women’s contesting of the ways other members participate in domestic work, adding to the relative relaxation of some men regarding their breadwinner’s role denote some tensions between traditional gender practices and the conception of their roles, which may be an indication of the reconfiguration of perceptions in the face of family duties, reasserting a more modern vision of social and gender relationships, a situation that is paradoxically observed in families in the most advanced phase of the family life cycle. As a hypothesis, it is plausible to think that the absence of children at young ages, and thereby lighter pressure to raise, socialize and provide for them, linked to the experience of migration for more than a decade, have stimulated to some extent, resistance processes in the face of the traditional role division.