It is well established that the workplace provides an important site for the production of gender identities. However, it is less-well understood how this identity construction might operate in the context of migrant workers, who bring with them particular notions of gender from their countries of origin that interact with ‘local’ gender practices. Through an in-depth case study of a London hotel and hospital, masculinity and economic status were observed to be intricately related in the ways in which male migrants described their work performances in terms of either ‘women's work’ or ‘lower-class work’. Men originating from middle- and upper-class economic positions were observed to be ‘flexible’ with their economic identity and take on work considered ‘lower-class’ in their country of origin in order to contest their gender identities in the UK. In contrast, men who migrated for economic gain and had family obligations to send remittances were observed to be ‘strategically’ flexible with their gender identities and often performed what they considered to be ‘women's work’ in order to be able to fulfil economic expectations. We suggest that a migrant's willingness and/or desire to enact ‘flexible and strategic masculinities’ is tied to the perceived trade-offs of his/her employment in the UK.
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