GENDER, MIGRATION AND WORK: FORMS OF (DIS)CARE IN THE LABOUR TRAJECTORIES OF MIGRANT WOMEN IN A WORKING-CLASS NEIGHBOURHOOD

This paper explores the convergence of gender, migration and labor from an intersectional and affective perspective, seeking to address various forms of care (and lack thereof) woven into the work trajectories of a group of migrant women from the Rodrigo Bueno neighborhood in the city of Buenos Aires. Based on ethnographic research and in-depth, open interviews, the article analyzes the labor trajectories of three members of the cooperative garden and nursery La Vivera. In these trajectories, gender, class, and migratory status intersect, conditioning their access to rights and opportunities, but also enabling them to generate creative responses that expanded the horizons of possibility, challenging logics of domination, violence, and exploitation. Throughout these paths, La Vivera emerges as a space of emotional well-being, contrasting with their other work experiences in the host country, primarily centered around domestic work. The experience in the cooperative becomes a turning point in their trajectories, allowing them to build a refuge and a space for shelter to (re)imagine life through collective efforts (with both human and more-than-human others). From this, the article proposes a reflection on care (and lack thereof) and the significant shift that works such as La Vivera's can represent in the labor trajectories of migrant women.