ILPC 2026

The objective of this paper is to describe the deskilling of the labour process of outsourced cleaning work in an university based on mechanisms where workers' social class and gender intersect. Drawing upon results of a mixed-methods research design, we propose that the intersection between class and gender sheds light on why some women cope with cleaning work (deskilled) while having the necessary skills to perform it.

On the one hand, results are based on review and analysis of institutional documents, as well as 23 in-depth interviews to key actors involved in the administrative and organizational management of outsourced cleaning work in the university. On the other hand, a survey was applied to a probabilistic sample of the outsourced cleaning personnel of 263 cases.

The social trajectory of female workers displays how they incorporate social structures (“habitus”) during their experience in working class homes and as women, which also qualifies them as apt workers for cleaning tasks. Specifically, emotional skills linked to “servility”, as well as characteristics associated with being a housewife are required in cleaning tasks in the university. These "feminine" and "popular" class skills are fundamental for carrying out the cleaning work labour process (and are valued by employers), however being naturalized (invisible work) as they are not rewarded in remunerations.

In this case, the deskilling occurs when the employer (or the main company) does not recognize the skills that these workers (invisible) require in order to adequately develop their work. This implies both knowing how to handle the negative image associated with cleaning work (annoying smells, humiliations, nonrecognition) and how to properly clean the dependencies of the university, without being perceived by the rest and avoiding to hamper the daily processes of the organization.