https://www.npr.org/2018/11/02/663022755/as-spains-immigration-rises-more-women-arrive-with-experiences-of-sex-abuse
Barcelona's boardwalk is lined with migrants selling knock-off purses, off-brand tennis shoes and soccer jerseys on blankets. Most are sub-Saharan African men, yet there are a few groups of women selling jewelry or offering to braid people's hair. They huddle together, away from the men, and don't interact much with the tourists walking past.
At one point, a sub-Saharan woman comes by with a bag overloaded with Tupperware falling out. Two of the street sellers call her over — she pulls out a disposable plate with rice, then pours sauces and spices on top of it. After the men pay her, she walks just a few feet before another group of hawkers — known in Spain as manteros, for the manta or "blanket" they place their merchandise on — get her attention, and she stops again.
"What women have started doing recently is making money feeding manteros typical African food," says Rose Mirčne Mouansie Mapiemfou, 44, who migrated to Spain from Cameroon in 2001. "They walk around with their carts during lunch time."
Mapiemfou says that while it's difficult for undocumented migrants to find work in Spain, it's even harder for the women who arrive. It's the female migrants, she adds, that hold up the migrant community.