The 'Feminization' of the Everyday: Examining the Gendered Nature of Worker Resistance within the Transnational Call Center Industry

Abstract

This dissertation represents the final product of a seven-year intellectual journey. This process has challenged, tested, and ultimately strengthened me. However, I would not have made to this point without the guidance, support, and encouragement of a host of amazing individuals. First, I would like to acknowledge and thank my incredible supervisors, Dr. Fiona Robinson and Dr. Christina Gabriel. I cannot tell you how extremely fortunate I feel to have had you both as a mentors and friends over the last seven years-I am forever indebted to you for your continued support, encouragement, and importantly, your understanding and patience, throughout this entire process. Your feedback and advice on my work has been invaluable, and this dissertation certainly would not be what it is without all the detailed and insightful comments and suggestions you provided. I am so happy that you both generously agreed to be part of my committee-my work has benefitted immeasurably from your input. Also, thank you to my third reader, Dr. Wally Clement. It was an incredible honor and privilege to have you on my dissertation committee. I would also like to express my gratitude to my internal and external examiners, Dr. Rosemary Warskett and Dr. Catherine Eschle, for generously taking the time to review my dissertation, and participate in my defence. I greatly appreciated receiving your feedback on my work. Thank you also, of course, to the interview participants who so generously gave their time to discuss their experiences within the call center industry. Your stories are the heart of-and inspiration for-my dissertation, and I cannot thank you enough for taking part in my research. Additionally, this project was funded in part by four Ontario Graduate Scholarships and I wish to express my gratitude to the Province of Ontario and Carleton University for their generous support. This list would be woefully incomplete without acknowledging the amazingly supportive friends and family who kept me sane during this process. First and foremost, I would like to thank my late grandmother, Margaret H. Rines, who was my best friend and biggest supporter. She passed away a couple of years into this journey, but has nevertheless remained by my side throughout. I would not have believed I had what it takes to complete a PhD without her, and I know how incredibly proud she would be to see me finish. I also wish to thank Rachel Franklin. You are my oldest, dearest, and closest friend, and you have always been one of my biggest supporters, and for that I cannot thank you enough. You were always there to celebrate the successes during this process, and to support me, and cheer me on, during the struggles and challenges. I, quite simply, would not have been able to complete this dissertation without you.

Feminization of Resistance: Reclaiming the Affective and the Indefinite as Counter-Strategy in Academic Labor Activism

“…Qualitative interpretations of 'feminization' evidently tend to imply pejorative aspects of work and gendered notions of occupational qualifications. Only more recently, the concept has entered the social movements discourse, yet in a rather quantitative sense that refers to instances of collective resistance where female actors numerically constitute the majority or take the lead in the micropolitics of social movement organizations [10,11].…”