Immigration and prostitution: the case of the Raval (Barcelona)

Abstract

This study analyses the living conditions of a group of Moroccan immigrant women who earn their living as prostitutes in an old quarter of Barcelona. Prostitution is an activity which may offer a way to achieve the aims of migration, to earn money in larger amounts, or quicker, than may be possible in other kinds of work typically available to immigrant women in Spain, such as domestic help or the unqualified care of people. Moroccan immigrant prostitutes in the Raval work hidden from their families and with the complicity of their fellow countrymen, sometimes with clear objectives and sometimes with problems of accepting themselves and their circumstances.