The plight of migrant women nightworkers in the Irish night-time economy
While local authorities and industry associations increase efforts to manage night-time economies, nightworkers, especially women, still experience significant health risks, inequality and exclusion. “In Ireland, women migrant nightworkers, usually in precarious employment, are not prioritised; even by Night-Time Economy Taskforces supporting the food and drinks, accommodation and leisure sectors, where many of these women work,” says Julius-Cezar MacQuarie, researcher from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions(opens in new window) supported PRECNIGHTS(opens in new window) project, hosted by University College Cork, Ireland(opens in new window). PRECNIGHTS builds on previous research by MacQuarie in London(opens in new window), with Ireland chosen due to its plans to expand the country’s night-time economy. According to MacQuarie: “In 2020, 19 % of the EU’s workforce did shift work, of which 21 % were night shifts. In Ireland, COVID-19 affected migrant night shift workers more than any other group, impacting women particularly and compounding their ‘invisibility’, compared to male counterparts and locals.”
‘Nightnography’ in action
While there has been research on the advancing 24-hour society and its impacts, according to MacQuarie, it has “offered limited understanding about the paradoxical reality of migrants, who are both essential, yet marginalised in urban settings.” MacQuarie’s approach, dubbed ‘nightnography’, stems from the anthropological tradition of ethnography, with researchers as both observers and participants capturing lived and felt experiences. Interviews were also conducted with women from South America, South Africa and central and eastern Europe in Dublin and Cork. Focus groups were also held with African women working as healthcare assistants and cleaners in the care sector: private residences and hospitals in Mallow and Cork. To help visualise the lives of women migrant nightworkers (WMNs), MacQuarie took photographs and made audio-video recordings of women and men at work, complemented by digital notes. The resulting data was then thematically analysed to explore and categorise the various reasons for precarity, and assess its implications. “Some women faced working hour limitations if on student visas, pushing them into the informal economy. South American WMNs, many in the food and tourism industries, experienced precarity due to low pay. Whereas a lack of English language skills for Romanian and Czech WMNs limited their options to manual work, like night-time cleaners,” explains MacQuarie. A common concern was the lack of safety at night. PRECNIGHTS’ findings are consistent with research on how migrant workers fare in the Irish labour market. For example, in 2022, AkiDwA(opens in new window), a migrant organisation for women, reported that around Ireland 3 198 women migrants face a particular set of challenges, such as the difficulty of accessing employment and the fact that many reside in remote locations, even when under international protection and with the right to work.
Recognising, protecting and valuing contributions
A key output from PRECNIGHTS is a call for new nightwork policies. Among the project’s 26 recommendations in its Out of Sight, Not Out of Mind(opens in new window) policy are: ensuring equal and higher pay for WMNs, childcare and transportation support, and providing hot food during night shifts. MacQuarie also stresses rights beyond the basic right to a contract, such as written terms and conditions within 5 days, free training – such as language courses – provided by employers, and the right to request a transfer to daytime employment. To engage policymakers and a wider public, PRECNIGHTS produced a 2023 Nightworker Charter(opens in new window). MacQuarie also helped produce seven illustrated WMN stories, exhibited online(opens in new window) and at in-person events. Public engagement with the media was monitored and posted on X/Twitter(opens in new window) and TikTok(opens in new window). So far, MacQuarie has conducted two Researcher’s Nightworkshops in Barcelona and Manchester(opens in new window), with more to come. These help to refine the nightwalking methodology of telling stories of exploration, transformation and connection, in cities at night.
Keywords
PRECNIGHTS, precarity, migrant, night-time, work, night shift, ethnography, Ireland, rights