IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v30y2023i2p373-390.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coloniality and contagion: COVID‐19 and the disposability of women of color in feminized labor sectors

Author

Listed:
  • José M. Flores Sanchez
  • Jade Kai

Abstract

Grounded in the historical conditions of epidemics intertwined with state power, we examine the factors that contribute to women of color's high proximity to contagion. We build on significant contributions to scholarship on the racial and sexual politics of work and the colonial history of contagion to argue that colonialism is key in the state's weaponization of illness against entire populations. This is crucial to decipher how women of color in feminized labor sectors, in our case, cleaning services and nursing, confront death during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This transforms readers' understanding of governmentality within public health crizes and the roles of colonial state institutions in administering death in raced, gendered, and classed ways. We conclude that future studies focused on pandemics, labor, race, and gender must account for the ways in which colonialism positions feminized workers as fungible in structures of response to mass crizes.

Suggested Citation

  • José M. Flores Sanchez & Jade Kai, 2023. "Coloniality and contagion: COVID‐19 and the disposability of women of color in feminized labor sectors," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 373-390, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:30:y:2023:i:2:p:373-390
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12913
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12913
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12913?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quinn, S.C. & Kumar, S. & Freimuth, V.S. & Musa, D. & Casteneda-Angarita, N. & Kidwell, K., 2011. "Racial disparities in exposure, susceptibility, and access to health care in the US H1N1 influenza pandemic," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(2), pages 285-293.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arthi, Vellore & Parman, John, 2021. "Disease, downturns, and wellbeing: Economic history and the long-run impacts of COVID-19," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Eva Clark & Karla Fredricks & Laila Woc-Colburn & Maria Elena Bottazzi & Jill Weatherhead, 2020. "Disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrant communities in the United States," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-9, July.
    3. Meng, Qingmin, 2023. "A locational analytics approach to COVID-19 discrimination and inequality against minorities across the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    4. Charles Stoecker & Nicholas J. Sanders & Alan Barreca, 2016. "Success Is Something to Sneeze At: Influenza Mortality in Cities that Participate in the Super Bowl," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 2(1), pages 125-143, January.
    5. Richardson, Eugene T. & Malik, Momin M. & Darity, William A. & Mullen, A. Kirsten & Morse, Michelle E. & Malik, Maya & Maybank, Aletha & Bassett, Mary T. & Farmer, Paul E. & Worden, Lee & Jones, James, 2021. "Reparations for Black American descendants of persons enslaved in the U.S. and their potential impact on SARS-CoV-2 transmission," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    6. Kaitlin Piper & Ada Youk & A Everette James III & Supriya Kumar, 2017. "Paid sick days and stay-at-home behavior for influenza," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-13, February.
    7. Shubhadeep Roychoudhury & Anandan Das & Pallav Sengupta & Sulagna Dutta & Shatabhisha Roychoudhury & Arun Paul Choudhury & A. B. Fuzayel Ahmed & Saumendra Bhattacharjee & Petr Slama, 2020. "Viral Pandemics of the Last Four Decades: Pathophysiology, Health Impacts and Perspectives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-39, December.
    8. Fourie, Johan & Jayes, Jonathan, 2021. "Health inequality and the 1918 influenza in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Charles Stoecker & Nicholas J. Sanders & Alan Barreca, 2015. "Success is Something to Sneeze at: Influenza Mortality in Regions that Send Teams to the Super Bowl," Working Papers 1501, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    10. Timothy A. Matthews & Megan Guardiano & Negar Omidakhsh & Lara Cushing & Wendie Robbins & OiSaeng Hong & Jian Li, 2022. "Associations of COVID-19 Related Work Stressors with Psychological Distress: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Californian Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Hamman, Mary K., 2021. "Disparities in COVID-19 mortality by county racial composition and the role of spring social distancing measures," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    12. Hadi Alizadeh & Ayyoob Sharifi & Safiyeh Damanbagh & Hadi Nazarnia & Mohammad Nazarnia, 2023. "Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social sphere and lessons for crisis management: a literature review," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(3), pages 2139-2164, July.
    13. Jason A. Douglas & Georgiana Bostean & Angel Miles Nash & Emmanuel B. John & Lawrence M. Brown & Andrew M. Subica, 2022. "Citizenship Matters: Non-Citizen COVID-19 Mortality Disparities in New York and Los Angeles," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-12, April.
    14. Gizelis, Theodora-Ismene & Karim, Sabrina M., 2024. "How epidemics affect marginalized communities in war-torn countries: Ebola, securitization, and public opinion about the security forces in Liberia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    15. Bayarmagnai Weinstein & Alan R. da Silva & Dimitrios E. Kouzoukas & Tanima Bose & Gwang Jin Kim & Paola A. Correa & Santhi Pondugula & YoonJung Lee & Jihoo Kim & David O. Carpenter, 2021. "Precision Mapping of COVID-19 Vulnerable Locales by Epidemiological and Socioeconomic Risk Factors, Developed Using South Korean Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-14, January.
    16. Yuan, Bocong & Huang, Xinting & Li, Jiannan & He, Longtao, 2022. "Socioeconomic disadvantages and vulnerability to the pandemic among children and youth: A macro-level investigation of American counties," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:30:y:2023:i:2:p:373-390. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.