The (im)mobility of masculinities: discourses on hiring men in long-term care services in Catalonia

Abstract

The presence of male job seekers in the long-term care sector poses new challenges for organizations operating in this environment. We take a qualitative approach to analyze the discourses and practices applied by managers of long-term care services in relation to hiring men in their organizations. In this analysis we explore how masculinities are mobilized and whether the growing male presence has brought about changes in hiring requirements in terms of gender. The growing number of professionally trained male carers who are willing to work in direct care settings does not, at the moment, seem to be a factor that alters or challenges organizational hiring requirements. We introduce the concept of (im)mobilization of masculinities to illustrate how, although care service organizations’ recruitment practices do mobilize idealized and alternative conceptions of masculinity, hiring men is not their priority. These practices help to reproduce gender inequalities in the long-term care sector.