The sociology of gender is always developing, testing its own conceptions (Ahlander and Bahr, 1995; Fraser, 2013). Still, there are times in the process when it is encouraging to remember that others have already made a similar journey: ‘The constant discussions [about cleaning as skilled work] at Choices … changed my vision of housework as necessarily demeaning. I began to question my underlying assumptions. …’ (Salzinger, 1991:159; see also Bujra, 2000:191)

My argument is a product of the outsourcing of contemporary urban housecleaning in two cultural contexts and my own social location. My findings and my position, as developed through these findings, thus may not be generalisable. The meanings of the work for my respondents in both research contexts, however, add to the broader established understandings of paid domestic work. Before I summarise this contribution, I consider some limitations of my research.

Few studies include male domestic workers (for example Bartolomei, 2010; Bujra, 2000; Lau, 2011; Ray and Qayum, 2009/2010), even though worldwide men continue to do domestic work (ILO, 2013, 2016). Rather, the work is often perceived as ‘a matter between women’ and theorised accordingly (which is ironic, since feminism and gender studies aim to render the marginalised visible). Although this book is also primarily based on research into the experiences of women, a few service-users had male service-providers, and it challenges the gendered conception of paid domestic work – it shows that the work does not come naturally to women (and men).

The primary data informing the argument were one-off, qualitative, semi-structured interviews, conversations that are not deemed ‘natural’. Such interviews, still, often provide rich descriptive data, through which researchers can glean a sense of the context of people's lives and experiences, and the meanings people ascribe to them (Miller and Glassner, 1998; Taylor and Bogdan, 1998). I also drew on secondary data, from media reports to internet discussions to conversations with chance acquaintances ranging from disproval of outsourced cleaning, and notions of cleanliness and cleaning, to knowing an ‘interesting’ woman who cleaned. As time has gone by, the repetition of themes in these reallife accounts strengthened the primary data analysis – and continues to do so. For locating the work in the wider world of work, I drew on the wider research on work and employment in both the UK and India, as well as other regions when the context was pertinent.