ABSTRACT
For decades, historiography on Basque overseas emigration has neglected the issue of female migration as a subject of research, ignoring the specificities of female migratory processes. There are, however, some researchers who have reflected on the topic, offering a refreshing path to rethinking old mantras: the old-fashioned idea that Basque migration to the Americas was a male action and decision, in which women only played a secondary role, as followers but never as pioneers. These researchers are now opening new paths, such as this study of the emigration/transfer of Basque women clergy abroad, especially to the Americas, from the second half of the nineteenth century to the 1970s. Focusing on the personal accounts of aged nuns who spent most of their lives outside Europe, this chapter offers a reflection on how to understand three aspects of their vital development: first, the debate on free choice related to their affiliation to a religious order and their transfer to the Americas; second, the personal debate on the choice between the most common destiny for women in their society of origin (marriage and maternity) and their personal destiny as unmarried, childless women; third, the overall vision of their lives from the perspective of an aging person.
