Communicating Care: How the Filipino Value of Pakikipagkapwa determines the Emotional Geographies of Filipino Women Migrants’ Journey

This paper draws from a study wherein ageing Filipino women living in Valencia, Spain participated in March 2019. By this time, the women cited had already gained Spanish citizenship and retired after working for at least 25 years in Spain.

Their emotional narratives traced the separation from their families, when they left the Philippines to pursue more gainful employment as domestic workers for affluent families in Spain in the period between the mid-1970s to early 1980s. One of them was eventually reunited with her son, the other, built a family life in her adoptive country. They now call Spain “home”.