Poverty, poor working conditions and unemployment affect ethnic and racial minorities and female-headed households, which has contributed to the emergence and consolidation of ‘atypical’ migration processes, which develop in parallel with other phenomena: globalisation and internationalisation of the workforce; growth in the services sector, the sex industry and emotional jobs; as well as other activities where direct relations between female workers, employers and consumers prevail. Unprestigiated, precarious, segmented and deregulated work niches. This article includes some Afro-descendant, Colombian and immigrant women in Spain and Italy. However, Afro-Colombian women in study use gender, ethno-racial identity and sexuality instrumentalities, whether calculated or not, to obtain benefits.