Migration and gender trajectories within the female-dominated care work in the United Kingdom

This presentation discusses the importance of migrants' 'life projects' when joining occupations involving caring for older people in the United Kingdom (UK). I will focus in particular on the role of gender and social capital when negotiating migrants' perception of their work within evidence of increasing levels of participation of migrant men in the feminized occupation of elderly care in the UK. I will start by providing findings from quantitative analysis of a large national workforce dataset on trends and profile of migrants providing different roles within the formal care sector (including care workers and nurses). The discussion will then focus on how migrants negotiate different challenges when securing and experiencing work in elder care with a specific focus on the role of social capital and gender identity. The findings draw on data collected from two projects, from 2009-2012, 'experience and expectations of international social care workers in England' and 'longitudinal care work study'; both funded by the English Department of Health and conducted by the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College London. Analyzing in-depth interviews with over 100 migrants participating in the two studies, the findings highlight different importance and experience associated to working in elderly care according to gender, with migrant men's experience characterized by 'temporariness' and 'secondariness'. Migrant men also employ different strategies in negotiating their masculinities when participating in the feminized elderly care work, drawing both on their social capital and own gender identity in such negotiation process.