Las abuelas de la migración. Cuidados, reciprocidad y relaciones de poder en la familia transnacional

Abstract

The purpose of this article is demonstrate the important role played by grandmothers of migrant families in both urban and rural areas in the canton of Sígsig, Ecuador, in three specific but profoundly interrelated areas: the intrafamily space of (re) production, "global care chains" and the socioeconomic development of international migration. This new role of caregivers will allow the grandmothers' daughters to look for work opportunities in other countries, thus contributing the development of a new socioeconomic dynamic. However, the moral obligation of having to care for children greatly increases the workload for these elderly grandmothers, especially in rural areas where the absence of public policies mixes with other traditional mechanisms of exclusion generating spaces of asymmetry and inequity. By way of a qualitative study, this research attempts to shed light on the realities of these caretaker grandmothers in their everyday life.