COVID-19 crisis, Romanian Roma migrant women, and the temporary geographies of lockdown in the Spanish home

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the persistent problem of gender, class and racial inequality that has been neglected or poorly addressed globally. The effect of the lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions on the home cannot be undermined. Additionally, investigations on the relationship between Roma migrant women, household practices and the COVID-19 pandemic still warrant more exploration in the social scientific literature. This research investigates these topics through the lens of Romanian Roma migrant women in Spain during the pandemic. Using geographies of home and gender perspectives based on focus group interviews with Roma women in eastern Spain, we claim that these women encountered multiple problems during the pandemic, built through replication of practices, objects and rhetoric of home. The findings suggest that home has not lost its utility, as the experiences of Roma migrant women during the COVID-19 crisis give fresh aspects for reconsidering the living conditions for women and their families under restricted pandemic circumstances. We conclude that Roma women reproduce and co-produce the home as a living space in times of pandemic crisis.