Why are women leaving? The mobility continuum as an explanation of rural masculinization process

Abstract

In Spain, the masculinization of rural towns and villages is an endemic process. In order to enquire into the reasons for this, an analysis is made of the evolution of different cohorts of people born in rural towns and their migratory behaviour using different variables: their level of education, work situation and mobility practices, particularly in relation to labour markets. This analysis makes a comparison between the region of Castile and Leon, where the phenomenon is the most intense, and the Autonomous Region of Valencia, where masculinization appears to be much more reduced. The conclusions seem to indicate that the processes governing whether rural women stay put or uproot themselves are related to employment prospects and access to spatial mobility. The restricted nature of rural labour markets resolved by using commuter and migration strategies as a way of accessing urban employment, strategies that are clearly differentiated by gender.