Body Training for the Global Economy: De-feminization or Re-feminization of Labour?

• In Event: 2260 - The Labor Process and Gender Inequality: Job Training and HR Policies at Work

Abstract

Low wage service workers employed in large transnational firms in India undergo forms of training in which they are taught to transform their bodies through “grooming” protocols, the proper use of uniforms and the adoption of hair and nail styles defined as “professional” as per the standards of transnational corporate settings. This training can be categorized in two ways. First, it can be seen as a mechanism through which the poor rural men are transformed into appropriate low-wage service workforces traditionally comprised of women. Through civilizing discourses reminiscent of colonial imperialism work is constructed as professional and mechanized such that feminized, low status, dirty work is redefined as modern and appropriate for men. Second, such body training can be seen as a re-feminization of labour whereby both male and female workers are expected to work on their bodies to convey docility and be aesthetically pleasing to others while they receive very low wages. In this paper, we explore the body training of low wage service workers (specifically cleaners and security guards) employed at high-tech, architecturally lavish transnational corporations in India. Through interviews with housekeepers and security guards, as well as their employers, we explore their accounts of the training they receive in light of the two narratives above. We explore the ways in which labour practices within transnational firms lead to the gendering of work in new ways.

Authors

• Kiran Mirchandani, OISE/Univ of Toronto

• Sanjukta Mukherjee, DePaul University

• Shruti Tambe, Savitribai Phule Pune University, India