Citation

Hopkins CT. Gend. Place Cult. 2017; 24(2): 201-212.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/0966369X.2017.1298573

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There is increasing research on the intensification of work in the post-1980s time period. The focus on flexibility in management practices has resulted in more tasks being offloaded onto workers who must then adjust their time-use to accommodate the greater workload. Studies of work intensification are not new to manufacturing production and there is increasing attention to unpaid domestic labour and service sectors. One industry, however, that has been neglected by these studies is paid domestic work where employers are individuals or families. Drawing on the traditions of feminist political economy and geography, I argue that the socio-spatial specificity of paid domestic work contributes an emphasis on workplace injury and labour law exclusion to intensification of work paradigms. Based on qualitative interviews conducted in Montréal, Québec from 2013 to 2015, I show how paid domestic workers intertwine narratives about work intensification and workplace injury yet remain excluded from the Act respecting occupational health and safety and the Workers' Compensation Act in Québec. Migrant women caregivers are disproportionately impacted by these exclusions and I show how the Filipino Women's Organization in Québec (PINAY) is at the forefront of challenging these exclusions. In conclusion, I propose an approach that combines feminist geography and political economy to consider how time-squeezes impacting individual or household employers may be intensifying the workloads of their paid domestic workers and how labour law structurally excludes workers along the social dimensions of gender, race and citizenship.

Language: en

Keywords

intensificación del trabajo; Intensification of work; labour law; lesión en lugar de trabajo; ley laboral; migración; migration; paid domestic work; reproducción social; social reproduction; trabajo doméstico pago; workplace injury; 劳动法; 工作场所伤害; 工作增强; 支薪家务工作; 社会再生产; 移民