ABSTRACT
There are very few published studies of Spanish migrants in Britain — a small part of an overview of Spanish migration to Europe (De Miguel 1986), a largely anecdotal narrative of Spaniards in the UK (Luis Botín 1988) and an in-depth study of a small group of Spanish women in London (Bravo Moreno 2006). However, in 2003 the Spanish Government commissioned a socioeconomic survey of the Spanish emigrant population worldwide, to assess the post-1950s progress of its diasporic community. This chapter reflects some of the findings of the UK part of that survey (Morgan 2004). Its principal aim is to profile Spanish migrants in Britain in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries, focusing on the diverging evolution of male and female experiences. Predictable elements of socioeconomic disadvantage are revealed; however, much progress is displayed, especially in the headway made by women in various respects. Improved employment status, rising living standards, higher educational qualifications and enhanced personal autonomy are the main features which distinguish the current generation from those who preceded them to the UK, while issues of cultural integration, linguistic confidence and uncertainty about return complicate their identities.
