Date of Award
Spring 5-2014
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Program
Urban Studies
Department
Planning and Urban Studies
Major Professor
Renia Ehrenfeucht
Second Advisor
Steve Striffler
Third Advisor
Marla Nelson
Fourth Advisor
Rachel Luft
Abstract
In the hospitality industry, women with children are in a unique position. Government deregulation of corporate labor practices, the exit of manufacturing overseas, and the rise of the service sector economy in the United States has contributed to the development of a surplus, low-wage labor force. Tourism is one subset of this labor force that deserves further attention. Although there is substantial literature on the structure of low-wage labor in tourism economies (Herod and Aguiar, 2006), as well as the impacts on work-family balance (Liladrie, 2009), a less explored topic is the impacts hospitality labor has on mothering. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of women with children who 1) work in the hospitality industry and 2) whose work is located in the tourism districts of Seattle, Washington and New Orleans, Louisiana. The investigator used semi-structured, qualitative interviews that asked women about the decisions they make for their children, how their work in hospitality influences their parenting decisions, and how they assign meaning to their roles as mothers. The investigator found that women in the hospitality industry do not separate work and motherhood as two separate spheres. Work is a mothering strategy. The decisions they make for their children are characterized by mobility, particularly through relocation. Finally, this study found that women who work in the hospitality industry navigate various “markers” that stigmatize them in the workplace. The investigator calls this “motherhood markers;” forms of stigma that intensify emotional labor in their workplaces, can create tension with employers and co-workers and, in some cases, termination of their employment.
Recommended Citation
Hackman, Anna E., "Moving Motherly: Raising Children in the Low-Wage Hospitality Industry" (2014). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1805.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1805
Included in
Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Political Economy Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons, Work, Economy and Organizations Commons
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.