‘Withdrawal from the system’. Women frontline workers’ political trajectories during Covid-19

This article explores women frontline workers’ political trajectories during the Covid-19 pandemic, based on longitudinal fieldwork (2021–2024) within two grassroots Yellow Vest Movement (YVM) groups in south-eastern France. Drawing on interview and participant observation data, it traces how ten women from feminised and precarious labour sectors politicised work outside traditional union frameworks. The YVM provided interpretive schemas and networks for making sense of dissonant workplace experiences, particularly the contrast between public appraisal and institutional and professional mistreatment. Work contestation practices, such as vaccine refusal and workplace testimonials, emerged through informal movement networks. Over time, participants developed practices of withdrawal from the state and its institutions, including bartering, naturopathy, and gardening. These trajectories reveal how cross-sphere socialisation between work and activism shaped politicisation processes during a critical juncture. The study contributes to understanding the reconfiguration of labour contention in feminised sectors and spill-over processes between labour and social movements.