Paper short abstract:

This article analyzes the impact of the arrival of immigrant population in the Spanish rural areas from a gender perspective.

Paper long abstract:

This article analyzes the impact of the arrival of immigrant population in the Spanish rural areas from a gender perspective. We have particularly observed the female migratory routes to municipalities with problems in ensuring the reproduction of their communities (depopulation, masculinization, aging, singleness, economic marginality) suggesting that these women contribute uniquely to its development and the revival of part of human capital and labor lost in the decline process that has characterizes the rural areas throughout the twentieth century. We noted the demographic trends of immigration to rural areas and their characterization, migratory routes, expectations and uniqueness of their incorporation into such a specific medium socially, economically and culturally. Unlike male migration in these areas which is usually concerned in the primary sector, women work primarily in the service sector (hotels and tourism), in the agro processors and especially in work related to the reproductive sphere: care and attention to the aging population who because of rural exodus, do not usually have either a family or institutional context that meets their needs of close attention. We understand that the foreign women help to re feminize these communities and become essential economic and social agents.