Particularities in immigration amongst homeless women in Girona

Abstract

Introduction

Homelessness is a problem which affects all the areas of those who suffer it, affecting their health seriously. These risks increase when the affected person has carried out a migratory process. Another risk factor, apart from immigration, is to be woman.

Objectives

To analyse the gender demographic differences in a total cohort of homeless people in the city of Girona in 2006 and continued until the present day.

Methods

Prospective longitudinal study of the total population of homeless people in Girona. In 2006, a list was made of all the homeless people detected by both specialized and non-specialized teams which have been followed until the present day.

Results

The total number of women in the sample is lower (n = 106, 11.2%). There are fewer immigrant than autochthonous women (Chi² = 23,1, df = 1, P < 0.001).

After following the total homeless population in 2006, we can confirm that currently we can still identify 62 people in the territory (6.7%). In this subsample there are no differences between genders (man: n = 54, 6.5% vs. woman: n = 8, 7.5%; Chi² = 0.21, df = 2, P = 0.89). That is, men and women remain in their homeless condition in a proportional way. This fact presents great limitations, since we do not know what happened with the other 93% of the initial sample.

Conclusions

The masculinisation of the homeless people from Maghreb has tended to increase the gender differences in the homeless population, in itself more masculine. This presents a risk of increasing the invisibility of homeless women.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.