Local contexts of labor insertion of Colombian immigrants in Nuevo León, México

Abstract

In international migration, women have played an important role, not only as travel companions, but also as labor migrants. Migration highlights power relations, representations, values, and family roles, which are often invisible in traditional situations. The gender perspective has been fundamental in the analysis of the labor insertion of migrants. It has been widely documented how women have taken a more prominent role in family migration projects, and how they have been able to insert themselves in international labor markets despite inequalities. This study analyzes the labor incorporation of Colombian immigrant women in Nuevo León, Mexico, addressing the diversity of causes of international migration and its implications on labor trajectories. This analysis places special emphasis on the intersection of domestic and extra-domestic work within the local context, considering the influence of social structures and family dynamics. As a contextual framework, recent data from the 2020 inegi Population and Housing Census are presented, which provide an overview of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the Colombian population residing in Nuevo León. In addition, the analysis is based on 10 interviews conducted with Colombian women, whose stories are structured into three main categories: causes of migration, migration project, and work (domestic and extra-domestic). One of the main findings of the research is the importance of analyzing migrant women and their work trajectories, taking into account that there are other aspects of life that overlap with the work decisions of migrants, which in most cases will not depend solely on the levels of education, professional experience or cultural capital, or local job offers, but also on the causes that have forced them to migrate, the roles and responsibilities that are transformed by international migration and family ties through distance.