Sri Lankan Men Working as Cleaners and Carers: Negotiating Masculinity in Naples

Abstract

The author examines the perceptions of Neopolitan employers on the masculinity of Sri Lankan domestic workers, taken together with race and ethnicity. These employers view these workers’ masculinity as effeminate, asexual and unthreatening and Sri Lankan men put these perceptions to good use by gaining access to jobs hitherto considered as the women’s domain. These perceptions of Neopolitan employers are in direct contradictions to those held in Sri Lanka where traditional gender roles of men and women remain unchanged. Interviews with male and female workers and employers together with observations are used for this study. The findings of this study demonstrate how racial and ethnic differences can be strategically used by members of a specific group and that there is no fixed notion of Sri Lankan masculinity. Rather, it can be constructed in different ways by Sri Lankan men and their Neopolitan employers.