Activities, exhibitions and projects

Image: Las Kellys - Pan y rosas

After viewing the HAMACA archive, we have selected some works that give an insight into the relationship between increased female representation in the workplace and job insecurity, which are rooted in the labour model of Spanish capitalism that took shape in the 1980s and 1990s.

The profound transformation of labour that took place as a result of the new forms of capitalist exploitation has not only had an impact on the daily life and social makeup of the working class—particularly women—but also on the entire framework of social, political and cultural relationships, creating deep and permanent contrasts in Europe’s largest cities.

One such model is Barcelona, which, just like Madrid, Murcia or any other tourist city in Spain, appears to be split in two. The first is the cosmopolitan part, which dazzles and offers culture, leisure, picturesque neighbourhoods to visit, museums, theatres, music, sea and mountains. The other is that of working class women, who ensure that all parts of this tourism machine continue to run smoothly. It is these women who are paid the least for their jobs, which are considered as “the bottom category” of positions. Barcelona is not split in two. It is just another European city which is governed by the laws of capitalism and the large tourism, construction and hotel companies, which require this army of women who are invisible to the eyes of tourists, who are too busy taking photos of Gaudí’s architecture or La Boqueria market.

La virreina English web