The Impact of Migration on the Gendering of Service Work: The Case of a West London Hotel

Abstract

This article responds to a call from Kerfoot and Korczynski to investigate the gendering of service sector employment. As a characteristic of many post-industrial economies in the global North is the growing significance of migrant workers, this article investigates the impact of migration for work on the gendering of service work. Taking the embodied and emotional labour of workers to be fundamental to service work, it describes how these are refracted and produced through migration. The article draws on 60 interviews with workers in a west London hotel who were born abroad and the human resources staff and managers who are responsible for the recruitment and promotion of the workforce. We argue that migration is an important process in the construction of the contemporary workforce in post-industrial service economies and that migration status should be understood as intersecting with gender in the production of a gendered performance at work.

Whiteness, ethnic privilege and migration: a Bourdieuian framework

“…As such this study contributes to the debate on theoretical and methodological expansions of research focusing on migration and diversity at work (Al Ariss, 2010;Al Ariss and Syed, 2011;Al Ariss et al, 2012;Metcalfe and Woodhams, 2012). It also offers new insights for research exploring the relationships between whiteness, migration and work (Dyer et al, 2010;Leonard, 2010b;2010a;McDowell et al, 2007;McDowell, 2008;Wills et al, 2010).…”

“…Due to their unmarked skin colour they are specifically desired for lowpaid service sector jobs (Dyer et al, 2010;McDowell et al, 2007). As a result A8 workers often face de-skilling, devaluation and racism (Anderson, 2000;Currie, 2007;Downey, 2008;Stevenson, 2007;Wills et al, 2010).…”

“…Furthermore there is not much research that specifically explores the relationship between whiteness and migration within organisations (Leonard, 2010b(Leonard, , 2010a. Nevertheless whiteness and ethnic segmentation at work have always been scrutinised in critical race and critical whiteness studies and are of growing interest to human geographers (Dyer et al, 2010;Hunter et al, 2010;Hunter, 2010;McDowell et al, 2007;McDowell, 2008;Wills et al, 2010).…”

“…This means that gender and sexuality in combination with other intersections can also play an important role in defining the 'national body'. This is of particular importance when looking at A8 labour migration to the UK, which consists of an equal, and occasionally higher, proportion of women to men (Currie, 2007;Dyer et al, 2010;Vertovec, 2006).…”

Migration Flows: Measurement, Analysis and Modeling

“…Internal migrations within poor countries by "distress migrants", or international migrations from poor to rich destinations for basic service work, has distinctive gendered components wherein poor and marginalized women movers come to fill particular types of service jobs, often informal and casualized (e.g. Roy 2002;Dyer et al 2009). A substantial component of these international migrations encompasses care workers, including nurses, home-care workers, nannies, and domestics (e.g.…”