Depleted bodies: intersectional perspectives on workplace violence

Abstract

The starting point in this chapter is the discrepancy between far-reaching gender policies in the workplace and persistent expressions of gender violence and work-related ill health in Sweden. Based on intersectional perspectives and inspired by social reproduction theories, the analysis focuses on the different ways that workplace violence depletes women’s capacity to replenish themselves and their capacity to deal with everyday life. Testimonies from different workplaces suggest the need for analysis that goes beyond individual acts and organisational management practices and also problematises how workplace violence depletes female workers’ capacity to live sustainable lives. A central argument is that workplace violence must be approached not solely as a failure of gender policies but rather as an expression of structural and intertwined hierarchies of power that shape subordinate and vulnerable positions along lines of gender, class, sexuality and national belonging. Moreover, to grasp the consequences of this violence it is necessary to transcend traditional boundaries between working life and private life and explore how the lack of replenishment after female workers’ experiences of violence is perceived, transmitted and suffered in their affective and social life.