The objective of this research was to know the immigration situation of South American women in the region of Antofagasta (Chile) and build a theoretical model for analysis. The study participants were 19 women between 18 and 50 years old, living in the Antofagasta city and from Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. The main findings suggested a dynamic model, which stresses the social and gender identity of women immigrants to the search for coherence in their life spaces. Furthermore, we noted in the interaction with the host society, the imposition of new social categories in exchange for assimilation and integration supported by uprooting. However, we also perceived in different dimensions, spaces of resistance to the rules of the host.
immigration situation; comprehensive model; immigrant women
