Managers' perceptions of masculinity and racialization in Swedish nursing homes

Abstract

Nursing homes for older people are an integral part in most postindustrial welfare states. The strong formalization and regulation of the Swedish care sector have contributed to a comparatively large share of frontline workers being native-born Swedish women with a shorter educational background. Yet, an aging population in interplay with increased difficulties to recruit sufficient numbers of native-born care workers has led to Sweden following an internationally observed trend with an increased reliance on not only migrant women but also migrant men as care workers in residential care facilities. However, little is known about migrant men's experiences of care work and the challenges and obstacles they might face because of their gender and skin color, not least when it comes to experiences of being exposed to gendered racism from the residents. The study builds on interviews with 21 managers employed at Swedish elder care facilities in the Stockholm area. The results suggest that both Black women and men to a greater extent than other ethnic minority workers risk being exposed to racism. At the same time, the results suggest that Black men, due to their gender and skin color, constitute the group of staff that most of all risks encountering racism in the everyday life of caregiving. Taken together, this points to the need of highlighting how stereotypes of gender and race as well as gendered racism are given and gain meaning in elder care. This points to the importance of not considering “migrant care workers” an undifferentiated category of workers when working on creating nondiscriminatory and inclusive working conditions for all visibly racialized care workers.