Community work and citizen activism as a response to the crisis in Spain: gender, poverty and social exclusion

ABSTRACT

Crisis in Spain since 2008 has revealed the economic system’s hidden face as well as weaknesses in welfare policies. In absence of responses from public authorities, some members of the Spanish citizenry have organised to seek survival formulas to stave off social exclusion. By taking into account gender differences, this article addresses roles played by reciprocity networks. Also how solidarity, resilience, and participatory democracy help people to get their prominence back. Using a qualitative methodology, we analysed data collected from 20 in-depth interviews (conducted between 2015 and 2018). Informants were representatives of several Spanish citizen organisations (including Andalusia, Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Madrid, Navarra, and Basque Country), the areas of study for our research project. We are able to demonstrate these organisations’ efficacy for providing people with opportunities for mutual support, and solidarity, through self-organisation. In fact, the referred organisations have become spaces for accompaniment, emotional support, and personal and collective empowerment. Ultimately, participation through community networks is helping to reverse social exclusion, and the injustice that it reflects. Nevertheless, we have also observed how invisible female leadership remains in this context; a real challenge for the field of Social Work as a whole.

RESUMEN

La crisis en España desde 2008 ha revelado la cara oculta del sistema económico y las debilidades en las políticas de bienestar. Ante la falta de respuesta del Estado español, la ciudadanía se ha organizado para buscar fórmulas que les ayuden a evitar caer en la exclusión social. Al tener en cuenta las diferencias de género, este artículo aborda los roles desempeñados por las redes de reciprocidad y cómo la solidaridad, resiliencia y la democracia participativa ayudan a las personas a recuperar su protagonismo. Utilizando una metodología cualitativa, analizamos 20 entrevistas en profundidad realizadas entre 2015 y 2018 a organizaciones de Andalucía, Cataluña, Islas Baleares, Madrid, Navarra y País Vasco. Los resultados muestran la eficacia de estas organizaciones al proporcionar a las personas, autoorganizadas, apoyo mutuo y solidaridad. De hecho, estas organizaciones se han convertido en espacios vitales de acompañamiento, apoyo emocional y empoderamiento, tanto personal como colectivo. Sin embargo, hemos observado cómo el liderazgo femenino invisible permanece en este contexto; A pesar de ello, la participación a través de redes comunitarias está ayudando a revertir la exclusión social y la injusticia que refleja. Un verdadero desafío y oportunidad para el campo del Trabajo Social en su conjunto.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• exclusion
• crisis
• Spain
• civic initiatives
• social work

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• crisis
• exclusiones
• género
• iniciativas ciudadanas
• trabajo social

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The FOESSA Foundation (Promotion of Social Studies and Applied Sociology) studies since 1965 the social situation, the development and social exclusion in Spain.

2 Despite falling for the third year in a row, figures have remained notably high: In 2017, a total of 12,338,187 people – representing 26.6% of Spain’s resident population – were at risk of poverty and/or social exclusion (EAPN-Spain, 2018, p. 6).

3 We chose the term ‘single mother’ over ‘single parent’ in order to make a political point that shows our agreement with feminist groups and theorists who aim to demonstrate that it is mostly women who find themselves at the head of single-parent family units, thus single-handedly facing concomitant family development difficulties. According to the Spanish Institute for Women, ‘A single mother family shall be deemed as comprising a woman caring for minors under the age of 21 or disabled adults who do not receive income of any kind above 75% of the National Minimum Wage. BOE n° 121 of 19.5.2008.

4 This is the case of the municipality of Peligros (Granada) where the garden was supported by the council alongside the Association for Employment with the aim of galvanising a social and solidarity economy.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Innovation. Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, Spain [grant number CSO2014-57084-R]; REDIN I+D+I research project: New Challenges for Public Policies on Social Inclusion in Times of Crisis: The Role of Reciprocity Networks and Community Focus on Welfare Production (2015-19) (CSO2014-57084-R). IP: Mª Antonia Carbonero Gamundí.

Notes on contributors

Amalia Morales-Villena

Amalia Morales-Villena has a Degree in Social Work and in History by the University of Granada. Doctoral thesis: Gender, Women, Social Work and Female Section. History of a femele profesión with feminist vocation. She teaches in Social Work Degree and Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women`s and Gender Studies, where she has directed 4 doctoral theses and 21 Master theses. Department head of Anthropology Social Work (1999–2003) and Secretary of Gender Studies Institute (2010–2015). She is a member of the research group AFRICAInEs. Research lines: feminised professions, development and gender, Drugs addiction y exclusions and others social problems.

Paloma Martín-Martín

Paloma Martín-Martín is an Assistant professor in the Degree in Social Work. Bachelor's degree in Sociology, University of Salamanca and Expert in Equality of Opportunities between men and women and Equality Policies and prevention of gender violence by the University of the Balearic Islands. She has experience as a social worker in different social organisations especially people in social exclusion and prostitution. She is member of the Research Group ‘Inequalities, gender and public policies’ of the UIB. Her research lines are gender and social exclusion. She is currently completing her doctoral thesis in the doctoral program of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies.

Joana María Mestre-Miquel

Joana María Mestre-Miquel has a Degree in Social Work (UIB) and PhD in Social Work (Public University of Navarra). Master in Cognition and Human Evolution and Master in Social Sciences Applied to Health Care. She has been visiting researcher at different universities (Barcelona, 2013; Institute Superior Miguel Torga, 2015, 2017). She is a member of the research group Inequalities, Gender and Public Policies and she has participated in several international research projects. She is the author of several publications in journals with impact factor as well as handbooks in Social services and Social Work.