Shifting Shadows of Uncertainty: The Utilitarian Migration and Intersectional Risks Among Moroccan Women Agricultural Workers in Spain During COVID-19

Abstract

This article examines the shift of uncertainty and risk to Moroccan female agricultural workers in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically under the GECCO program. It argues that Spain’s agricultural policies enforce a precarious labor environment for these women, trading their well-being for global market competitiveness. The study delves into recruitment, working, and living conditions, utilizing theories of intersectionality, risk, migratory utilitarianism, and coloniality of power to highlight how the pandemic amplifies risks along existing lines of inequality, altering patterns of gendered mobility and immobility. The paper concludes with a call for a profound reassessment of the European agricultural labor model towards fairness and justice. It pushes for a paradigm shift in migration studies to a critical decolonial view that honors the lived experiences of marginalized migrants. This perspective is essential for dismantling oppressive structures and broadening our understanding of migrant experiences.