El retorno más allá del mito del emprendedor. Estrategias económicas, familiares y afectivas de mujeres y hombres a su regreso a Ecuador desde España / Return Migration Beyond the Myth of the Entrepreneur: Women and Men’s Economic, Family and Affective Strategies in Their Return to Ecuador from Spain

This paper analyzes the strategies carried out by a group of men and women upon their return to Ecuador after a migratory period of over a decade in Spain. These returning migrants are beneficiaries of the Cucayo subsidy provided by the Ecuadorian state in order to facilitate their self-employment. This public policy, managed by the National Secretary of Migration between 2008 and 2012, must be understood in the context of economic crisis in Spain and political, economic and social institutional reforms in Ecuador. A qualitative study based on interviews with members from families in both countries, analyzed from gender and generational perspectives, puts into question the central role of entrepreneurship in return processes. The promoted strategy of starting a business can only be understood when considered in conjunction with other individual and family aspects of migrants' experiences. These include affective ties, the organization of care, daughters and sons' education and other employment opportunities. The dynamic articulation of these elements in migration processes must take into account class, gender and age differences, as well as the composition of the family unit.