In Portugal, precarious housing for lower-income groups marked the 20th century, and the new millennium has not been different. Immigrants from outside of the European Union are disproportionately affected, facing more overcrowding, unfit housing conditions, and discrimination in access to housing. Many women, especially racialised women, struggling with housing precarity work in the low-wage service sector, not earning a sufficient salary to cover living costs, including their rent. In this study, we explore the dwelling pathways of female immigrant workers in Portugal through the case of cleaning workers at Iscte, the university where we work. Our analysis is based on participant observation and 15 semi-structured interviews conducted with the cleaning workers during 2023 and 2024. Few studies have considered the life and housing trajectories of migrant women in Portugal, despite their long-standing migration and their significant contribution to the Portuguese economy, especially within the care sector. Often depicted as a country of emigration, Portugal has seen a strong increase in immigration in recent years, with the number of immigrants almost doubling from 2017 to 2022. With this research, we hope to shed light on the housing conditions of migrant women, identifying common trajectories that can shape the way towards further conceptualisation of the nexus of migration, gender and housing, from the standpoint of the university as a producer of social categories.

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migration,housing precarity,labour precarity