The Colombian community in London - Geography - Queen Mary ...

Colombians who had arrived more recently were more likely to live in multi-person or single
person households, rather than family households. For example, more than half of those who
arrived since 2000 lived in multi-person households or single person households. Multi-person
and lone person households also tend to be associated with low incomes and economic
vulnerability. 28% of elementary workers lived in single person households with a further 19%
living in multi-person units. In contrast, those who are settled are more likely to live in
households comprising couples and children. As such, more than half of people living in these
households arrived before 1999, compared with 39% who arrived after 2000.
Figure 11: Household structures among Colombians
Couple with dependent
children
Couple with no
dependent children
Lone parent with
dependent children
One person household
Other multi-person
household
Source: Questionnaire survey (N=100)
Transformations in gender relations and ideologies
Gender relations and ideologies (referring to the norms and ideals about expected behaviour
between women and men as well as the roles that are deemed appropriate for people
because of their gender) among Colombians change according to pre- and post-migration
experiences with both positive and negative outcomes (see also McIlwaine, 2010; McIlwaine
and Carlisle, 2011). Drawing on the qualitative research, many younger migrants felt that
changes in gender relations had occurred back home before they migrated. For example, 29
year-old Sara from Bucaramanga (interviewed in 2007) and who had been an engineer with a
cattle-farming company noted: „I always saw my father supporting my mother who was a really
hard worker; he always let her work. Within my family, the husbands help the wives in the
same way as they do here.‟
Although women and men‟s experiences in the labour market influenced how gender relations
and ideologies transformed (see earlier), changes at the household level were also identified.
On one hand, people spoke of men contributing more to domestic labour in the home than
they did in Latin America. This was usually prompted by working practices outside the home;
in cases with both partners working often long and irregular hours, people had to share
housework such as cooking. Maya, who was 38 years old and from Palmira (interviewed in
2010) noted:
„Here, we both have to contribute at home. He [her husband] never used to help in
Colombia, not even wash a dish, but here he has no choice, we both work. I don‟t think
he has changed what he really thinks, but he can‟t complain‟.
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