Migration, gender and low-paid work: On migrant men's entry dynamics into the feminised social care work in the UK

The literature on workers in gender atypical occupations has been
dominated by a focus on women doing men’s work. Much less
attention has been paid to men in women’s work, and even less to
the impact of migration. Based on 28 in-depth interviews with
migrant men having experiences of working in hands-on social
care in England, this article is a contribution to the understanding
of migrant men’s entry dynamics into a female-dominated
occupation. Focusing on migrant life experiences, it discusses how
they actively engage in three entry dynamics: (1) facing barriers
and negotiating them, (2) ‘stumbling upon’ women’s work, then
developing compensating strategies and (3) migratory/temporary
settling into the sector. The article suggests a theory about lifelong
‘travelling’ when entering women’s work: a continuing process of
negotiating work options within a specific historical sector context,
the intersection of gender and migration being part of this.