The organizing of hotel cleaners in France: an intersectional analysis

French workers are experiencing worsening conditions, with care workers facing unique difficulties due to their racialized and gendered identities. Collective action has been crucial in prompting the improvement of labour conditions of care workers through, for example, the implementation of policies about care work. Although they have not been institutionalized as explicit equality measures, these policies have been shaped by gendered and racialized norms.
Labour activism in France has been extremely weakened since the 1980s and it is facing new barriers, especially for racialized women. The increased securitization, due to the "War on Terror", with the far-right exploiting new forms of racism and populism, has translated into new forms of state control. Furthermore, these difficulties have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only have people become more isolated and economically insecure, but this has also been an opportunity for the French government to attack the freedom of association.